Episomal vector reprogramming of human umbilical cord blood natural killer cells to an induced pluripotent stem cell line MUSIi013-A.

Natural killer (NK) cells were isolated from human umbilical cord blood from a healthy newborn and reprogrammed by episomal vectors carrying reprograming factors L-MYC, LIN28, OCT4, SOX2, KLF4, EBNA-1, and shRNA against p53 delivered using nucleofection. The obtained MUSIi013-A human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line highly expressed pluripotency markers, had the capacity to differentiate into derivatives of the three germ layers, while retained a normal karyotype. This cell line may be a useful tool to study epigenic memory that may predispose hiPSCs to enhanced NK differentiation.