Human iPS cell-based therapy: considerations before clinical applications

Abstract

Generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells has revolutionized the field of regenerative medicine. With the exponential increase in iPS cell research in the past three years, human iPS cells have been derived with different technologies and from various cell types. From a translational perspective, however, a number of issues must be addressed before safe and high quality patient-specific iPS cells can be derived for clinical applications. In addition, iPS cell-based therapies also need to be thoroughly evaluated in pre-clinical animal models before they can be applied to human subjects.

Figure 1. The idea of iPS cell-based regenerative therapy

There remain significant hurdles to be overcome in each step, from iPS cell derivation to pre-clinical trials, before iPS cell-based clinical applications can become a reality. SF, skin fibroblasts; Kera, keratinocytes; CD34⁺, CD34⁺ cells from peripheral blood; ASC, adipose stem cell; CB, cord blood cell; Endo, endoderm; Meso, mesoderm; Ecto, ectoderm.