Positive predictions were made in the aftermath of the development of induced pluripotent stem cell technology for the use of patient-specific iPSCs to model neurological diseases, including dementia. Here, we review the current state of the field and explore how close we are to the goal of in vitro models that capture all aspects of the cell and molecular biology of dementia.

The induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology is instrumental in advancing the fields of disease modeling and cell transplantation. We herein discuss the various issues regarding disease modeling and cell transplantation presented in previous reports, and also describe new iPSC-based medicine including iPSC clinical trials. In such trials, iPSCs from patients can be used to predict drug r...

Morizane et al. (2013) show that donor-matched differentiated derivatives of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) do not cause an immune response after transplantation, whereas transplantation of HLA-mismatched iPSC derivatives to the same site clearly does. The importance of these results is discussed in this commentary as we assess how best to move forward with iPSC-based cell therapy.

Inherent and acquired defects in gene expression, protein homeostasis, metabolic pathways, and organelle function are linked to aging and a wide range of human diseases. Although concealed or dormant in the embryonic stage, they often manifest later in life. We review and discuss recent observations on how somatic cells bearing specific phenotypic defects can be reprogrammed into a pluripotent ...

Fundamental studies of molecular and cellular mechanisms of cardiovascular disease pathogenesis are required to create more effective and safer methods of their therapy. The studies can be carried out only when model systems that fully recapitulate pathological phenotype seen in patients are used. Application of laboratory animals for cardiovascular disease modeling is limited because of physio...

Egawa et al. recently showed the value of patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for modeling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in vitro. Their study and our work highlight the need for complementary assays to detect small, but potentially important, phenotypic differences between control iPSC lines and those carrying disease mutations.

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Developing effective drug therapies for arrhythmic diseases is hampered by the fact that the same drug can work well in some individuals but not in others. Human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells have been vetted as useful tools for drug screening. However, cardioactive drugs have not been shown to have the same effects on iPS cell-derived human cardiomyocytes as on embryonic stem (ES) cell-...

The Keystone Symposium on Stem Cell Differentiation and Dedifferentiation attracted nearly 500 participants affiliated with academia, the biotechnology industry, scientific publishing and clinical practice. This broad group examined current advances in stem-cell biology, with a particular focus on induced pluripotent stem cells, and discussed both their potential and limitations in therapeutic ...

Induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons from patients promise to fill an important niche between studies in humans and model organisms in deciphering mechanisms and identifying therapeutic avenues for neurologic and psychiatric diseases. Recent work begins to tap this potential and also highlights challenges that must be overcome to be fully realized.