Directing differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells toward androgen-producing Leydig cells rather than adrenal cells

Significance Our results suggest that both androgen- and cortisol-producing human Leydig and adrenal cells can be induced from human induced pluripotent stem cells. This bidirectional approach offers insights into the events specifying different steroidogenic cell populations sharing developmental origins. More importantly, our study provides a way to generate possible transplantation materials for clinical therapies. Human Leydig-like cells could also be useful for in vitro studies of testicular development and pathologies of testis-relevant diseases, and for the discovery of new drugs inducing androgen formation for hypogonadism treatment.