TY - JOUR
T1 - Concise review
T2 - Alchemy of biology: generating desired cell types from abundant and accessible cells
AU - Pournasr, Behshad
AU - Khaloughi, Keynoush
AU - Salekdeh, Ghasem Hosseini
AU - Totonchi, Mehdi
AU - Shahbazi, Ebrahim
AU - Baharvand, Hossein
PY - 2011/12/1
Y1 - 2011/12/1
N2 - A major goal of regenerative medicine is to produce cells to participate in the generation, maintenance, and repair of tissues that are damaged by disease, aging, or trauma, such that function is restored. The establishment of induced pluripotent stem cells, followed by directed differentiation, offers a powerful strategy for producing patient-specific therapies. Given how laborious and lengthy this process can be, the conversion of somatic cells into lineage-specific stem/progenitor cells in one step, without going back to, or through, a pluripotent stage, has opened up tremendous opportunities for regenerative medicine. However, there are a number of obstacles to overcome before these cells can be widely considered for clinical applications. Here, we focus on induced transdifferentiation strategies to convert mature somatic cells to other mature cell types or progenitors, and we summarize the challenges that need to be met if the potential applications of transdifferentiation technology are to be achieved.
AB - A major goal of regenerative medicine is to produce cells to participate in the generation, maintenance, and repair of tissues that are damaged by disease, aging, or trauma, such that function is restored. The establishment of induced pluripotent stem cells, followed by directed differentiation, offers a powerful strategy for producing patient-specific therapies. Given how laborious and lengthy this process can be, the conversion of somatic cells into lineage-specific stem/progenitor cells in one step, without going back to, or through, a pluripotent stage, has opened up tremendous opportunities for regenerative medicine. However, there are a number of obstacles to overcome before these cells can be widely considered for clinical applications. Here, we focus on induced transdifferentiation strategies to convert mature somatic cells to other mature cell types or progenitors, and we summarize the challenges that need to be met if the potential applications of transdifferentiation technology are to be achieved.
KW - Epigenetics
KW - Reprogramming
KW - Transcription factor
KW - Transdifferentiation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=81855168305&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/stem.760
DO - 10.1002/stem.760
M3 - Review article
C2 - 21997905
AN - SCOPUS:81855168305
VL - 29
SP - 1933
EP - 1941
JO - Stem Cells
JF - Stem Cells
SN - 1066-5099
IS - 12
ER -