scholarly journals Advances in Stem Cell Technologies for Disease Therapy: A Current Review

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadiya Patel

Stem cells have the capability of differentiating into limitless cell types, alongside the function of exceptional proliferative capacity. There are three main types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells (ESCs), induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). ESCs are highly versatile and hold great therapeutic potential but have great ethical barriers and considerations that are yet to be overcome. IPSCs have become increasingly popular within research as they are not restrained by any ethical issues and do not require approval for their usage. The aim of this review was to expand on the background and therapeutic potential of ESCs and IPSCs whilst linking this to their use within disease therapy with a specific focus on ethics, tumorigenesis and survivability. The analysis found some conflicting results and a delay in the advance of overcoming the problems of tumorigenesis and survivability of stem cells. Both stem cells types have shown good efficacy but do also come with their disadvantages.

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pengfei Ji ◽  
Sasicha Manupipatpong ◽  
Nina Xie ◽  
Yujing Li

Possessing the ability of self-renewal with immortalization and potential for differentiation into different cell types, stem cells, particularly embryonic stem cells (ESC), have attracted significant attention since their discovery. As ESC research has played an essential role in developing our understanding of the mechanisms underlying reproduction, development, and cell (de)differentiation, significant efforts have been made in the biomedical study of ESC in recent decades. However, such studies of ESC have been hampered by the ethical issues and technological challenges surrounding them, therefore dramatically inhibiting the potential applications of ESC in basic biomedical studies and clinical medicine. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), generated from the reprogrammed somatic cells, share similar characteristics including but not limited to the morphology and growth of ESC, self-renewal, and potential differentiation into various cell types. The discovery of the iPSC, unhindered by the aforementioned limitations of ESC, introduces a viable alternative to ESC. More importantly, the applications of iPSC in the development of disease models such as neurodegenerative disorders greatly enhance our understanding of the pathogenesis of such diseases and also facilitate the development of clinical therapeutic strategies using iPSC generated from patient somatic cells to avoid an immune rejection. In this review, we highlight the advances in iPSCs generation methods as well as the mechanisms behind their reprogramming. We also discuss future perspectives for the development of iPSC generation methods with higher efficiency and safety.


Author(s):  
Anja Trillhaase ◽  
Marlon Maertens ◽  
Zouhair Aherrahrou ◽  
Jeanette Erdmann

AbstractStem cell technology has been around for almost 30 years and in that time has grown into an enormous field. The stem cell technique progressed from the first successful isolation of mammalian embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in the 1990s, to the production of human induced-pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in the early 2000s, to finally culminate in the differentiation of pluripotent cells into highly specialized cell types, such as neurons, endothelial cells (ECs), cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, and lung and intestinal cells, in the last decades. In recent times, we have attained a new height in stem cell research whereby we can produce 3D organoids derived from stem cells that more accurately mimic the in vivo environment. This review summarizes the development of stem cell research in the context of vascular research ranging from differentiation techniques of ECs and smooth muscle cells (SMCs) to the generation of vascularized 3D organoids. Furthermore, the different techniques are critically reviewed, and future applications of current 3D models are reported. Graphical abstract


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Septian Sumanto Marpaung ◽  
Ayu Oshin Yap Sinaga

The four transcription factors OCT4, SOX2, KLF4 and c-MYC are highly expressed in embryonic stem cells (ESC) and their overexpression can induce pluripotency, the ability to differentiate into all cell types of an organism. The ectopic expression such transcription factors could reprogram somatic stem cells become induced pluripotency stem cells (iPSC), an embryonic stem cells-like. Production of recombinant pluripotency factors gain interests due to high demand from generation of induced pluripotent stem cells in regenerative medical therapy recently. This review will focus on demonstrate the recent advances in recombinant pluripotency factor production using various host.


2020 ◽  
pp. 185-208
Author(s):  
John Parrington

Stem cells, which are ‘immortal’ cells that divide indefinitely and produce many different cell types, are central to how our body develops and maintains itself. Embryonic stem cells can give rise to all cell types in the body, and there has been lots of interest since their discovery in the 1980s in using such cells to generate new tissues or organs to replace diseased or faulty ones. More recently has come the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells, which are normal skin cells taken from a person and genetically modified or tweaked chemically to give them stem cell properties. There is now hope that both of these types of stem cells might be used in ‘regenerative’ medicine, for instance in producing pancreatic cells that secrete insulin which could be used to treat diabetes. Perhaps the most remarkable breakthrough in recent years has been the discovery that stem cells introduced into a 3D matrix that is infused with chemicals that stimulate the development of particular cell types, can spontaneously form ‘organoids’, which have many of the cell types and even structural features of human organs such as hearts, kidneys, intestines, and even eyes and brains. Organoids make it possible to study how human organs develop but also this area of science raises many ethical issues. For instance, currently human brain organoids can only grow to the size of an embryonic brain, but if in the future they could be induced to grow to adult brain size, could they develop feelings and thoughts?


2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (suppl_6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel G. Kooreman ◽  
Joseph C. Wu

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have the ability (i) to duplicate indefinitely while maintaining pluripotency and (ii) to differentiate into cell types of all three embryonic germ layers. These two properties of ESCs and iPSCs make them potentially suitable for tissue engineering and cell replacement therapy for many different diseases, including Parkinson's disease, diabetes and heart disease. However, one critical obstacle in the clinical application of ESCs or iPSCs is the risk of teratoma formation. The emerging field of molecular imaging is allowing researchers to track transplanted ESCs or iPSCs in vivo , enabling early detection of teratomas.


Author(s):  
Moning Liu ◽  
Lixia Zhao ◽  
Zixin Wang ◽  
Hong Su ◽  
Tong Wang ◽  
...  

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) have the potential to differentiate to all cell types of an adult individual and are useful for studying mammalian development. Establishing induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) capable of expressing pluripotent genes and differentiating to three germ layers will not only help to explain the mechanisms underlying somatic reprogramming but also lay the foundation for the establishment of sheep embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in vitro. In this study, sheep somatic cells were reprogrammed in vitro into sheep iPSCs with stable morphology, pluripotent marker expression, and differentiation ability, delivered by piggyBac transposon system with eight doxycycline (DOX)-inducible exogenous reprogramming factors: bovine OCT4, SOX2, KLF4, cMYC, porcine NANOG, human LIN28, SV40 large T antigen, and human TERT. Sheep iPSCs exhibited a chimeric contribution to the early blastocysts of sheep and mice and E6.5 mouse embryos in vitro. A transcriptome analysis revealed the pluripotent characteristics of somatic reprogramming and insights into sheep iPSCs. This study provides an ideal experimental material for further study of the construction of totipotent ESCs in sheep.


Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Soares Lindoso ◽  
Tais H. Kasai-Brunswick ◽  
Gustavo Monnerat Cahli ◽  
Federica Collino ◽  
Adriana Bastos Carvalho ◽  
...  

Omics approaches have significantly impacted knowledge about molecular signaling pathways driving cell function. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) have revolutionized the field of biological sciences and proteomics and, in particular, has been instrumental in identifying key elements operating during the maintenance of the pluripotent state and the differentiation process to the diverse cell types that form organisms. This review covers the evolution of conceptual and methodological strategies in proteomics; briefly describes the generation of iPSC from a historical perspective, the state-of-the-art of iPSC-based proteomics; and compares data on the proteome and transcriptome of iPSC to that of embryonic stem cells (ESC). Finally, proteomics of healthy and diseased cells and organoids differentiated from iPSC are analyzed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 373 (1750) ◽  
pp. 20170214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah F. McComish ◽  
Maeve A. Caldwell

Effective and efficient generation of human neural stem cells and subsequently functional neural populations from pluripotent stem cells has facilitated advancements in the study of human development and disease modelling. This review will discuss the established protocols for the generation of defined neural populations including regionalized neurons and astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and microglia. Early protocols were established in embryonic stem cells (ESC) but the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) in 2006 provided a new platform for modelling human disorders of the central nervous system (CNS). The ability to produce patient- and disease-specific iPSC lines has created a new age of disease modelling. Human iPSC may be derived from adult somatic cells and subsequently patterned into numerous distinct cell types. The ability to derive defined and regionalized neural populations from iPSC provides a powerful in vitro model of CNS disorders. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Designer human tissue: coming to a lab near you’.


Reproduction ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 139 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Ralston ◽  
Janet Rossant

The flurry of recent publications regarding reprogramming of mature cell types to induced pluripotent stem cells raises the question: what exactly is pluripotency? A functional definition is provided by examination of the developmental potential of pluripotent stem cell types. Defining pluripotency at the molecular level, however, can be a greater challenge. Here, we examine the emerging list of genes associated with induced pluripotency, with particular attention to their functional requirement in the mouse embryo. Knowledge of the requirement for these genes in the embryo and in embryonic stem cells will advance our understanding of how to reverse the developmental clock for therapeutic benefit.


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