BACKGROUND Understanding the molecular mechanisms controlling pluripotency in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is of central importance towards realizing their potentials in medicine and science. Cross-species examination of transcriptional co-expression allows elucidation of fundamental and species-specific mechanisms regulating ESC self-renewal or differentiation. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS ...

The adult ovarian surface epithelium has already been proposed as a source of stem cells and germinal cells in the literature, therefore it has been termed the "germinal epithelium". At present more studies have confirmed the presence of stem cells expressing markers of pluripotency in adult mammalian ovaries, including humans. The aim of this study was to isolate a population of stem cells, ba...

Ground-state pluripotency is a cell state in which pluripotency is established and maintained through efficient repression of endogenous differentiation pathways. Self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are influenced by ESC-associated microRNAs (miRNAs). Here, we provide a comprehensive assessment of the "miRNome" of ESCs cultured under conditions favoring ground-state plu...

The CCCTC-binding factor CTCF is the only known vertebrate insulator protein and has been shown to regulate important developmental processes such as imprinting, X-chromosome inactivation and genomic architecture. In this study, we examined the role of CTCF in human embryonic stem cell (hESC) biology. We demonstrate that CTCF associates with several important pluripotency genes, including NANOG...

BACKGROUND Pluripotency, the property of a cell to differentiate into all cellular types of a given organism, is central to the development of stem cell-based therapies and regenerative medicine. Stem cell pluripotency is the result of the orchestrated activation of a complex transcriptional network characterized by the expression of a set of transcription factors including the master regulator...

Limited understanding of the importance of known pluripotency factors in pig embryonic stem cells (ESC) impedes the establishment and validation of porcine ESC lines. This study evaluated the expression of known mouse ESC and human ESC (hESC) pluripotency markers in in vivo inner cell mass (ICM) and in vitro-cultured undifferentiated porcine epiblast cells isolated from 8-day porcine blastocyst...

objective: the anti-cancer properties of curcumin, a poliphenol extract from the rhizome of curry, has been confirmed by many investigators. however, low levels of uptake, tissue distribution and rapid metabolism has limited its application as an anti-cancer drug. this study is aimed at increasing curcumin's water solubility due to a biodegradable, neutral and non-toxic micellar nano-carrier ca...

clinical application of embryonic stem (es) cells faces difficulties regarding tissue rejection as well as ethical limitations. one solution for these issues is to reprogram somatic cells by the injection of their nucleus into an enucleated oocyte or zygote. however, technical complications and ethical considerations have impeded the therapeutic implications of this technology. an approach whic...

objective: it is hypothesized that stem cells have the capability to form tumors after transplantation. spermatogonial stem cells have proliferation potency and colonization ability related to express pluripotency genes such as c-myc. the primary aim of this study is to investigate tumorigenicity ability of these cells after in vitro cultivation and inoculation in athymic animals. methods: sper...