Generation of feeder-free human iPSC lines from a Major depressive disorder patient (MDD) (CHINTAi004-A) and healthy individual (CHINTAi002-A) of Eastern Indian ethnicity

Novel experimental models are required for the investigation of the various molecular mechanisms underlying prevalent neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression in the Indian population. Lack of new drugs are compounded by the lack of appropriate model systems that clinically translate faithfully in humans. Here we have generated a healthy (no history of psychiatric illness) and patient-specific cells suffering from depression through reprogramming peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), using non-integrating episomal vectors. The mycoplasma-free cells expressed pluripotency markers, showed trilineage differentiation potential and present a normal karyotype. These cell lines will serve as resource material to precisely investigate neuropsychiatric disease mechanisms and take a step closer to personalized medicine.