Stabilization of Cell-Cell Adhesions Prevents Symmetry Breaking and Locks In Pluripotency in 3D Gastruloids

RNA sequencing and lineage fate analysis revealed that budesonide, a glucocorticoid drug widely used to treat asthma, prevented ESC aggregates to break symmetry by counteracting exit from pluripotency and modifying the expression of a large set of genes associated with cell migration, A-P axis formation, and WNT signaling.