Although β-thalassemia is one of the most common human genetic diseases, there is still no effective treatment other than bone marrow transplantation. Induced pluripotent stem cells have been considered good candidates for the future repair or replacement of malfunctioning organs. As a basis for developing transgenic induced pluripotent stem cell therapies for thalassemia, β(654) induced plurip...

The derivation of human embryonic stem cells 10 years ago ignited an explosion of public interest in stem cells, yet this achievement depended on prior decades of research on mouse embryonic carcinoma cells and embryonic stem cells. In turn, the recent derivation of mouse and human induced pluripotent stem cells depended on the prior studies on mouse and human embryonic stem cells. Both human e...

stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialized cells and can divide (through mitosis) to produce more stem cells. they are found in multicellular organisms. in mammals, there are two broad types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells, which are isolated from the inner cell mass of blastocysts, and adult stem cells, which are found in various tissues. in ad...

Despite the significant advances in regenerative medicine, wound healing has remained a challenging clinical problem. Skin is the largest human organ with many vital functions; therefore, any damage to its normal structure should be treated as soon as possible. Easy access to skin stem cells has created a lot of excitement in therapeutic applications. “Cell therapy” is considered a novel method...

Whether neurons generated in vitro from human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have in vivo-like properties is unknown. In this issue of Neuron, Espuny-Camacho et al. (2013) show that ESC-/iPSC-derived cortical neurons make specific projections and functional synapses when transplanted into a neonatal mouse brain.

The maintenance of pluripotency in embryonic stem cells (ESCs), its loss during lineage specification or its re-induction to generate induced pluripotent stem cells are central topics in stem cell biology. To uncover the molecular basis and the design principles of pluripotency control, a multitude of experimental, but also an increasing number of computational, studies have been published. Her...

It has been debated whether human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and embryonic stem cells (ESCs) express distinctive transcriptomes. By using the method of weighted gene co-expression network analysis, we showed here that iPSCs exhibit altered functional modules compared with ESCs. Notably, iPSCs and ESCs differentially express 17 modules that primarily function in transcription, metabo...

E-cadherin; pluripotency; embryonic stem cell; induced pluripotent stem cell; iPS; ES; signaling pathways; Activin; Nodal.

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...