Gibco PeproTech recombinant proteins for stem cell culture and differentiation
Stem cell growth factors and cytokines play key roles in healthy stem cell cultures. Some maintain pluripotency, enable self-renewal, and prevent spontaneous differentiation of ESCs and iPSCs, whereas other growth factors reprogram stem cells through protein-mediated initiation or inhibition of cell signaling pathways.
Thermo Fisher Scientific offers stem cell growth factors, cytokines, and other stem cell-related recombinant proteins in the PeproTech portfolio to effectively maintain, expand, and differentiate stem cells into desired phenotypes.
Explore stem cell-related cytokines and growth factors by cell type
Poster: Protein-induced pluripotent stem cell differentiation pathways
Identify specific recombinant proteins used to differentiate pluripotent stem cells (iPSC/ESC) into your cell of interest with this ESC/iPSC differentiation pathways poster.
Stem cell growth factors and cytokines for maintaining pluripotency
 | Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) and embryonic stem cell (ESC) cultures differ in cell source but share the ability to differentiate into any cell type, making them ideal candidates for cell therapy and cell biology studies. Stem cell growth factors such as FGF-basic maintain pluripotent stem cell cultures through genetic regulation of cellular survival, apoptosis, and proliferation. Recombinant proteins such as BMP-4 are also used to block unwanted differentiation in pluripotent stem cell cultures. |
Pluripotent stem cell culture and renewal proteins:
Stem cell cytokines and growth factors for hematopoietic cell differentiation
 | Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) differentiate into all blood cell types from the myeloid and lymphoid lineages. The cytokine IL-7 drives HSCs to differentiate into lymphoid progenitors, whereas combination of the cytokine IL-3 and stem cell growth factor GM-CSF sends HSCs down the myeloid lineage. Supplementing lymphoid stem cell cultures with other cytokines and growth factors drives differentation into immune cell types like T cells, B cells, and NK cells. By application of the correct combination of growth factors, myeloid stem cell cultures can be differentiated into neutrophils, macrophages or dendritic cells. |
Growth factors for HSC renewal
HSCs undergo a series of changes as they develop into the mature blood cells found in circulation. In cell culture, these changes can be induced by growth factors and cytokines. Visualize the proteins needed to drive hematopoietic stem cell differentiation in vitro.
Stem cell cytokines and growth factors for mesenchymal cell differentiation
 | Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) cells are multipotent, perivascular cells found in bone marrow and other vascularized tissues. Given exposure to different mesenchymal stem cell supplements these cells undergo changes via cell signaling pathways such as chondrogenesis, adipogenesis, myogenesis, and osteogenesis. |
Growth factors for MSC proliferation and renewal
Table 3. Recombinant growth factors for mesenchymal stem cell differentiation
| Protein | Chondrocyte | Osteocyte | Myocyte | Adipocyte |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BMP-2 | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| BMP-4 | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| BMP-6 | ✓ | |||
| BMP-7 | ✓ | |||
| CCL8 (MCP-2) | ✓ | |||
| CXCL9 | ✓ | |||
| FGF-10 | ✓ | |||
| FGF-4 | ✓ | |||
| FGF-8 | ✓ | |||
| FGF-9 | ✓ | |||
| FGF-basic (FGF-2/bFGF) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| FLT-3 ligand (FLT3L) | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| IGF-1 | ✓ | |||
| IL-1 | ✓ | |||
| IL-11 | ✓ | |||
| IL-15 | ✓ | |||
| IL-6 | ✓ | |||
| IL-7 | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| IL-8 (CXCL8) | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| LIGHT | ✓ | |||
| M-CSF | ✓ | |||
| TRANCE (RANKL) | ✓ | |||
| CXCL12 (SDF-1a) | ✓ | |||
| TGF-beta 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| VEGF-165 | ✓ |
Growth factors and cytokines can help differentiate MSC into adipocytes, chondrocytes, myocytes, and osteocytes in vitro. Learn more about MSC differentiation, sourcing, and characteristics in this brochure.
Growth factors and cytokines for differentiating other progenitor cells
 | Stem cell growth factors and cytokines for neural cell differentiationNeural stem cells are multipotent stem cells that produce the main phenotypes of the nervous system. Basal, glial, and neuronal stem cell progenitors differentiate into the cells of the central nervous system like motor and peripheral neurons or astrocytes. |
Table 4. Recombinant growth factors for neural stem cell renewal and glial progenitor differentiation
| Protein | Neural stem cell renewal | Glial progenitor | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Astrocyte I | Type II astrocyte | Oligodendrocyte | ||
| CNTF | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| EGF | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| FGF-basic (FGF-2/bFGF) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| IGF-1 | ✓ | |||
| NT-3 | ✓ | |||
| PDGF AA/BB/AB | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Sonic Hedgehog C25II (Shh) | ✓ | ✓ | ||
Table 5. Recombinant growth factors for neuronal cell differentiation from basal and neuron-restricted progenitors
| Protein | Basal progenitor | Neuron-restricted progenitor | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motor | Peripheral | Dopaminergic | Glutamatergic | GABAergic | |
| BDNF | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| beta-NGF | ✓ | ||||
| BMP-2 | ✓ | ||||
| BMP-4 | ✓ | ||||
| EGF | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| FGF-10 | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| FGF-4 | ✓ | ||||
| FGF-8b | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| FGF-basic (FGF-2/bFGF) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| GDNF | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| IGF-1 | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| NT-4 | ✓ | ||||
| PDGF AA/BB/AB | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Sonic Hedgehog C25II (Shh) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
Learn about the role of growth factors and cytokines in neural stem cell research, disease modeling, and regenerative medicine.
Growth factors and cytokines for differentiating other progenitor cells
iPSC/ESC can differentiate into any cell lineage via the three germ layers in vivo. While challenges exist to replicate these processes in vitro across all human tissues, with the right combination of growth factors iPSC/ESC can be driven to differentiate into numerous cell types important for disease model research including lung, gut, pancreatic, thyroid, and hepatic cells.
Table 6. Other stem cell differentiation-driving recombinant proteins
| Protein | Lung | Gut | Pancreatic | Hepatic | Thyroid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activin A | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| BMP-4 | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| EGF | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| FGF-10 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| FGF-4 | ✓ | ||||
| FGF-7 (KGF) | ✓ | ||||
| FGF-basic (FGF-2/bFGF) | ✓ | ||||
| HGF | ✓ | ||||
| Noggin | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| R-Spondin | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| TGF-beta 1 | ✓ | ||||
| Wnt-3a | ✓ |
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