Nonhuman sialic acid Neu5Gc is very low in human embryonic stem cell-derived neural precursors differentiated with B27/N2 and noggin: Implications for transplantation

A concern recently has been raised that human embryonic stem cell (HESC) lines cultured with currently available methods may have limited clinical usefulness due to the immunogenicity of the nonhuman sialic acid Neu5Gc incorporated into their membranes during culturing. We find this concern has little relevance to neural differentiation protocols with B27/N2/noggin because of the gradual decline of Neu5Gc to less than 1% in differentiating cells upon switching to B27/N2 medium.