Células madre pluripotentes inducidas

The most well-known type of pluripotent stem cell is the embryonic stem cell. Sin embargo, since the generation of embryonic stem cells involves destruction (or at least manipulation)[4] of the pre-implantation stage embryo, there has been much controversy surrounding their use. Más, because embryonic stem cells can only be derived from embryos, it has so far not been feasible to create patient-matched embryonic stem cell lines.

Dado que las iPSC pueden derivarse directamente de tejidos adultos, no sólo evitan la necesidad de embriones, pero se puede hacer de manera que coincida con el paciente, which means that each individual could have their own pluripotent stem cell line. Estos suministros ilimitados de células autólogas podrían utilizarse para generar trasplantes sin riesgo de rechazo inmunológico. While the iPSC technology has not yet advanced to a stage where therapeutic transplants have been deemed safe, iPSCs are readily being used in personalized drug discovery efforts and understanding the patient-specific basis of disease

 

iPSCs are typically derived by introducing products of specific sets of pluripotency-associated genes, o “reprogramming factors”, into a given cell type. The original set of reprogramming factors (also dubbed Yamanaka factors) are the transcription factors Oct4 (Pou5f1), medias2, cMyc, and Klf4. While this combination is most conventional in producing iPSCs, each of the factors can be functionally replaced by related transcription factors, miARN, small molecules, or even non-related genes such as lineage specifiers.[10]

iPSC derivation is typically a slow and inefficient process, taking 1–2 weeks for mouse cells and 3–4 weeks for human cells, with efficiencies around 0.01–0.1%. Sin embargo, considerable advances have been made in improving the efficiency and the time it takes to obtain iPSCs. Upon introduction of reprogramming factors, cells begin to form colonies that resemble pluripotent stem cells, which can be isolated based on their morphology, conditions that select for their growth, or through expression of surface markers or reporter genes.