News and Views


Nature Cell Biology 8, 1048 - 1049 (2006)
doi:10.1038/ncb1006-1048

Uncovering stemness

Mélanie Bilodeau1 & Guy Sauvageau1,2

  1. Mélanie Bilodeau are in the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics of Stem Cells, Institut de Recherche en Immunologie et Cancérologie (IRIC), C.P. 6128 succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7, Canada.
  2. Guy Sauvageau is also in the Department of Medicine and Division of Hematology and Leukemia Cell Bank of Quebec Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montréal, Québec, Canada. e-mail: guy.sauvageau@umontreal.ca


Understanding how self-renewal and pluripotency — two key characteristics of stem cells — are controlled may allow generation of stem cell lines from somatic tissues, thus avoiding the ethically contentious need to derive them from embryos. A step forward in this understanding was recently taken by two teams, who exploited recombinant retroviruses in gain-and-loss of function experiments to characterize candidate transcription factors with the potential to regulate 'stemness'.

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