Fig. 3

Specific protein and gene expression profiling of iPSC-derived RPE cells. a Expression of RPE65 by 2.5–3-month cultures of RPE cells from three different iPSC lines, indicated by an immunolabeled western blot image. Actin was used as a loading control. b Expression of RPE65, MERTK, and BEST1 genes in iPSC-RPE cells cultured for 2–3 months, detected by RT-PCR. GAPDH was used as a loading control. c–e Expression of the RPE-specific proteins BEST1 (c), RPE65 (d), and MITF (e), indicated by immunofluorescence. f iPSC-RPE cells showed no expression of the pluripotency marker OCT4; nuclei labeled with DAPI. Scale bars: c, 20 μm; d, e, 50 μm; f, 20 μm. HEK human embryonic kidney cells, iPSC induced pluripotent stem cell, RPE retinal pigment epithelium, MERTK MER proto-oncogene, tyrosine kinase, BEST1 bestrophin 1, GAPDH glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, MITF microphthalmia-associated transcription factor