A Novel Small Molecule Facilitates the Reprogramming of Human Somatic Cells into a Pluripotent State and Supports the Maintenance of an Undifferentiated State of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

摘要

Human somatic cells can be reprogrammed to a pluripotent state by forced expression of a combination of four transcription factors: Oct-4 and Sox-2 with either Klf-4 and c-Myc (OSKM); or Nanog and LIN28 (OSNL). Because of the groundbreaking cellular reprogramming discovery that pluripotent cells have the ability to differentiate into all cell types found in adults, human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) generated from a patient's own cells have been considered a highly promising cellular source for basic research, drug development, and toxicity testing, as well as regenerative medicine.pl However, current reprogramming methods have some known limitations including a low efficiency and slow kinetics of the reprogramming process, and a safety concern needs to be addressed before they can be widely applied in different settings including clinical uses.