Radio electric conveyed fields directly reprogram human dermal-skin fibroblasts toward cardiac-, neuronal-, and skeletal muscle-like lineages

Somatic cells can be directly reprogrammed to alternative differentiated fates without first becoming stem/progenitor cells. Nevertheless, the need of viral-mediated gene delivery renders this strategy unsafe in Humans. Here, we provide evidence that exposure of human skin fibroblasts to a Radio Electric Asymmetric Conveyer (REAC), an innovative device delivering radio electric conveyed fields at radiofrequency of 2.4 GHz, afforded remarkable commitment towards cardiac, neuronal and skeletal muscle lineages. REAC induced the transcription of tissue-restricted genes, including Mef2c, Tbx5, GATA4, Nkx2.5 and prodynorphin for cardiac reprogramming, as well as myoD, and neurogenin1 for skeletal myogenesis, and neurogenesis, respectively. Conversely, REAC treatment elicited a biphasic effect on a number of stemness-related genes, leading to early transcriptional increase of Oct4, Sox2, cMyc, Nanog, and Klf4 within 6-20 hours, followed by a downregulation at later times. The REAC action bypassed a persistent reprogramming towards an induced pluripotent stem cell-like state, and involved the transcriptional induction of the NADPH oxidase subunit Nox4. Our results show for the first time the feasibility to use a physical stimulus to afford the expression of pluripotentiality in human adult somatic cells up to the attainment of three major target lineages for regenerative medicine.