KOLF2.1J iTF-Microglia: A standardized platform to study microglial transcriptional regulatory networks in CNS disease

Understanding transcriptional regulatory networks (TRNs) in microglia is essential for elucidating mechanisms underlying central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived models enable mechanistic studies of microglia but often suffer from variability across lines. Here, we use the standardized KOLF2.1J iPSC line, engineered to inducibly express six transcription factors that allow rapid generation of microglia-like cells (iTF-microglia). We profile TRNs under homeostatic and inflammatory conditions and show that iTF-microglia resemble primary brain microglia at transcriptomic and epigenomic levels. Integrative analyses identify microglia-enriched candidate cis -regulatory elements (cCREs) and reveal dynamic enhancer remodeling during differentiation and stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or interferon-gamma (IFNγ), involving NF-κB, IRF, and STAT transcription factors. TRNs active in iTF-microglia are enriched for genetic variants linked to Alzheimer's disease and related CNS disorders. These findings establish KOLF2.1J iTF-microglia as a reproducible, genetically tractable system for dissecting microglial gene regulation and TRN remodeling in disease.