Figure 2. Downregulation of Oct4 has no effect on t-hPSC pluripotency or tumor-initiating cell capacity.

(A) Summary of teratoma formation from control and Oct4 knockdown t-hPSCs at serial injected cell doses. Cell doses of 7.5×10³, 2.4×10⁴, and 6.6×10⁴ t-hPSCs and 1.5×10⁴, 3.3×10⁴ and 6.6×10⁴ Oct4 knockdown t-hPSCs were injected into the testis capsules of NOD/SCID mice. Mice were sacrificed 6 weeks after injection. Teratoma size was measured and plotted relative to injected cell doses. N = 7. (B–G) Representative histology of teratomas formed in NOD/SCID mice testes 6 weeks following injection of control t-hPSCs (B–D, upper panel) or Oct4 knockdown t-hPSCs (E–G, bottom panel). Tissues representing all three embryonic germ layers including ectoderm (neural rosettes, B and E, left panels), mesoderm (cartilage, C and F, middle panels), and endoderm (columnar epithelium, D and G, right panels) are shown. Scale bar = 50 µm.