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In vivo reprogramming for tissue repair

Nature Cell Biology volume 17, pages 204–211 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Vital organs such as the pancreas and the brain lack the capacity for effective regeneration. To overcome this limitation, an emerging strategy consists of converting resident tissue-specific cells into the cell types that are lost due to disease by a process called in vivo lineage reprogramming. Here we discuss recent breakthroughs in regenerating pancreatic β-cells and neurons from various cell types, and highlight fundamental challenges that need to be overcome for the translation of in vivo lineage reprogramming into therapy.

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Figure 1: Examples of in vivo lineage reprogramming in the pancreas.
Figure 2: Examples of in vivo lineage reprogramming in the brain.

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Acknowledgements

Our apologies go to all authors whose important work could not be mentioned due to space limitations. We are grateful to Célia Lentini for her help with the design of the figures and Marisa Karow for critically commenting on the manuscript. C.H. is supported by CNRS and Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE). F.M.S. is supported by the Helmholtz Association, ERC-St. Grant HEPATOPANCREATIC, and FP7 IRG-ENDOPANC. B.B. is supported by the DFG, BMBF, and the Bavarian research network Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (ForIPS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Christophe Heinrich is at INSERM U836, F-38000 Grenoble, France and Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble Institut des Neurosciences, GIN, F-38000 Grenoble, France,

    Christophe Heinrich

  2. Francesca M. Spagnoli is at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, D-13125 Berlin, Germany,

    Francesca M. Spagnoli

  3. Benedikt Berninger is at the Institute of Physiological Chemistry and the Focus Program Translational Neuroscience, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, D-55128 Mainz, Germany, and Physiological Genomics, Institute of Physiology, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, D-80336 Munich, Germany,

    Benedikt Berninger

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  1. Christophe Heinrich
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Correspondence to Francesca M. Spagnoli or Benedikt Berninger.

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Heinrich, C., Spagnoli, F. & Berninger, B. In vivo reprogramming for tissue repair. Nat Cell Biol 17, 204–211 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb3108

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