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Stem cells

Low-risk reprogramming

Nature volume 458, pages 715–716 (2009)Cite this article

New techniques circumvent a roadblock to the production of embryonicstem-cell-like lines from adult tissue. Such reprogrammed cell lines should be much safer to use for therapy.

Shinya Yamanaka's amazing discovery1 that cells from differentiated tissues can be reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells — cells that can potentially differentiate into any cell type — has transformed research in stem-cell biology and regenerative medicine. The breakthrough provided both a deft approach to the production of patient-specific stem-cell lines with which to study disease, and a practical means of developing large banks of stem-cell lines suitable for tissue matching in transplantation therapy. But the original protocols for producing iPS cells relied on the integration of foreign 'reprogramming' genes into the host-cell genome, a process associated with risks including mutation, dysregulation of native gene expression, and the development of cancers after iPS-cell transplantation. Four studies2,3,4,5, including two in this issue2,3, now show that iPS cells can be produced without any permanent modification to the host-cell genome.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Martin F. Pera is at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA. martin.pera@keck.usc.edu ,

    Martin F. Pera

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  1. Martin F. Pera
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Pera, M. Low-risk reprogramming. Nature 458, 715–716 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/458715a

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/458715a

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