Induced pluripotent and CD34+ stem cell derived myeloid cells display differential responses to particle and dust mite exposure

Myeloid cells form an essential component of initial responses to environmental hazards and toxic exposures. The ability to model these responses in vitro is central to efforts tasked with identifying hazardous materials and understanding mechanisms of injury and disease. Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived cells have been suggested as alternatives to more established primary cell testing systems for these purposes. iPSC derived macrophage and dendritic like cells were compared to CD34+ haematopoietic stem cell derived populations using transcriptomic analysis. Using single cell sequencing-based characterisation of iPSC derived myeloid cells, we identified transitional, mature and M2 like macrophages as well as dendritic like antigen presenting cells and fibrocytes. Direct transcriptomic comparisons between iPSC and CD34+ cell derived populations revealed higher expression of myeloid differentiation genes such as MNDA, CSF1R and CSF2RB in CD34+ cells, while iPSC populations had higher fibroblastic and proliferative markers. Exposure of differentiated macrophage populations to nanoparticle alone or in combination with dust mite, resulted in differential gene expression on combination only, with responses markedly absent in iPSC compared to CD34+ derived cells. The lack of responsiveness in iPSC derived cells may be attributable to lower levels of dust mite component receptors CD14, TLR4, CLEC7A and CD36. In summary, iPSC derived myeloid cells display typical characteristics of immune cells but may lack a fully mature phenotype to adequately respond to environmental exposures.