Background: Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are capable of self-renewal and large-scale expansion. They also have the capacity to differentiate into a variety of cell types including liver, cardiac and neuron cells. However, it is not yet clear whether hESCs can differentiate to hemangioblasts under in-vitro conditions. Hemangioblasts are bipotential progenitors that can generate hematopoietic lineages and endothelial cells. The aim of this study was to identify the potential of human Royan H5 embryonic stem cells in differentiating into hemangioblast cells.

Methods: HESCs were cultured at suspension system in DMEM/F12 supplemented with bFGF. 7-day old cells differentiated into blast cells under defined condition consisting of hematopoietic cytokines including BMP4, VEGF, etc. Blast cell markers kinase insert domain receptor (KDR), CD31, and CD34 were evaluated by flow cytometry and blast gene expressions (TAL-1, Runx-1 and CD34) were detected by qRT-PCR. Clonogenic assays were performed in semisolid medium by colony forming unit-assays.

Results: The hESCs (Royan H5) had the capacity of differentiating into hemangioblast cells. We could detect colonies that expressed 79%±12.5 KDR+, 5.6%±2.8 CD31+-CD34+ and 6%±2.12 KDR+-CD31+ on day 8 in the hESCs. Up-regulation of TAL-1, Runx-1 and CD34 occurred during hemangioblast commitment (P≤0.05 and P≤0.01, respectively). Moreover, hemangioblast cells generated mixed-type and endothelial-like colonies in semi-solid media.

Conclusion: Our results showed that hESCs (Royan H5) were able to differentiate into hemangioblasts under in-vitro conditions. The hemangioblasts had the potential to generate two non-adherent (Mixed-type) and adherent (endothelial-like) cell populations.