Differentiation of Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (hiPSCs) into Human Primordial Germ Cell-like Cells (hPGCLCs) In Vitro

In humans, germ cells are specified in the extraembryonic yolk sac, at proximity of allantois, around the second week of gestation. Derivation of human germ cell-like cells (hPGCLCs) from human pluripotent cells in vitro is of a great importance for research purposes, such as disease modeling, or studying the early human germ cell development and the effect of environmental factors on this development. As it is not possible to access human embryos at early developmental stages, a two-step protocol has been proposed by Sasaki and colleagues to differentiate hPGCLCs in vitro from human pluripotent stem cells. Here, we report a detailed protocol for in vitro hPGCLCs differentiation from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).