RAG2 severe combined immune deficiency (RAG2-SCID) is a lethal disorder caused by the absence of functional T and B cells due to a differentiation block. Here, we generated induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from a RAG2-SCID patient to study the nature of the T cell developmental blockade. We observed a strongly reduced capacity to differentiate at every investigated stage of T cell development, from early CD7-CD5- to CD4+CD8+. The impaired differentiation was accompanied by an increase in CD7-CD56+CD33+ natural killer (NK) cell-like cells. T cell receptor D rearrangements were completely absent in RAG2SCID cells, whereas the rare T cell receptor B rearrangements were likely the result of illegitimate rearrangements. Repair of RAG2 restored the capacity to induce T cell receptor rearrangements, normalized T cell development, and corrected the NK cell-like phenotype. In conclusion, we succeeded in generating an iPSC-based RAG2-SCID model, which enabled the identification of previously unrecognized disorder-related T cell developmental roadblocks. View Publication

BACKGROUND Microglia, the principle immune cells of the brain, play important roles in neuronal development, homeostatic function and neurodegenerative disease. Recent genetic studies have further highlighted the importance of microglia in neurodegeneration with the identification of disease risk polymorphisms in many microglial genes. To better understand the role of these genes in microglial biology and disease, we, and others, have developed methods to differentiate microglia from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). While the development of these methods has begun to enable important new studies of microglial biology, labs with little prior stem cell experience have sometimes found it challenging to adopt these complex protocols. Therefore, we have now developed a greatly simplified approach to generate large numbers of highly pure human microglia. RESULTS iPSCs are first differentiated toward a mesodermal, hematopoietic lineage using commercially available media. Highly pure populations of non-adherent CD43+ hematopoietic progenitors are then simply transferred to media that includes three key cytokines (M-CSF, IL-34, and TGF$\beta$-1) that promote differentiation of homeostatic microglia. This updated approach avoids the prior requirement for hypoxic incubation, complex media formulation, FACS sorting, or co-culture, thereby significantly simplifying human microglial generation. To confirm that the resulting cells are equivalent to previously developed iPSC-microglia, we performed RNA-sequencing, functional testing, and transplantation studies. Our findings reveal that microglia generated via this simplified method are virtually identical to iPS-microglia produced via our previously published approach. To also determine whether a small molecule activator of TGF$\beta$ signaling (IDE1) can be used to replace recombinant TGF$\beta$1, further reducing costs, we examined growth kinetics and the transcriptome of cells differentiated with IDE1. These data demonstrate that a microglial cell can indeed be produced using this alternative approach, although transcriptional differences do occur that should be considered. CONCLUSION We anticipate that this new and greatly simplified protocol will enable many interested labs, including those with little prior stem cell or flow cytometry experience, to generate and study human iPS-microglia. By combining this method with other advances such as CRISPR-gene editing and xenotransplantation, the field will continue to improve our understanding of microglial biology and their important roles in human development, homeostasis, and disease. View Publication