Comparison of human induced pluripotent and embryonic stem cells: fraternal or identical twins?

摘要

Human induced pluripotent stem cells L(hiPSCs) have been hailed as an effective replacement for human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and a prime candidate cell source for regenerative medicine aims. Both hESCs and hiPSCs share the important properties of self-renewal and pluripotency; that is, they are theoretically capable of generating unlimited amounts of any differentiated cell in the human body. However, accumulating reports of gene expression differences between hESCs and hiPSCs have led many to question the equivalence of these two promising cell types. Seemingly random variation in the differentiation propensity of hiPSCs to neural, cardiovascular, and hemangioblastic lineages has frustrated investigators hoping to better exploit their potential for disease modeling and cell replacement therapies