Pluripotency of Dental Pulp Cells and Periodontal Ligament Cells Was Enhanced through Cell-Cell Communication via STAT3/Oct-4/Sox2 Signaling

Figure 4

Differentially expressed genes in DPCs and PDLCs with indirect coculture. The -axis (a log transformation plot of the fold difference) and the -axis ( value) indicate the differential expression of each gene in the indirect coculture and control groups of DPCs (a) and PDLCs (b). The pink lines indicate a 3-fold up- or downregulation of gene expression. The blue line indicates the threshold for the value () of the -test. In the indirect coculture systems, four genes (ZFPM2, STAT3, SOX2, and OCT-4) were significantly upregulated, and seven genes (EGR3, PAX5, PCNA, STAT1, RUNX1, FGF1, and NOTCH2) were significantly downregulated in the indirect cocultured DPCs. Meanwhile, ten genes (STAT3, HOXC10, HOXA9, EZH2, ESR1, SOX2, OCT-4, DLX2, PPARG, and KLF4) were significantly upregulated, whereas four genes (PAX1, NANOG, HOXA7, and PAX5) were significantly downregulated in the indirect cocultured PDLCs. Western blot analyses showed that the levels of STAT3, OCT-4, and SOX2 protein expression were strongly upregulated and PAX5 expression was downregulated in DPCs (c, d) and PDLCs (e, f) after indirect coculture.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)