[Generation and application of pluripotent stem cells from spermatogonial stem cells]

Abstract

Recent studies have confirmed that diverse adult tissue cells can be reprogrammed and induced to pluripotency, that is so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). But most of these dedifferentiated processes are induced by gene delivery with retroviral vectors. Some of the delivered genes are cancer causing. So, in current situation, these adult-derived embryonic stem-like cells cannot be used in clinical therapy to cure human diseases. Recently some articles that were published in the authoritative journals are receiving attentions. They show that, in mice and human, spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) can be used for generating pluripotent stem cells without the exogenous genes and retroviruses, and they can also be used for autologous transplantation without ethical problems. These findings suggest that human SSCs may have considerable potential for cell-based, autologous organ regeneration therapy for various diseases. In this review, we describe and compare the methods that have been used to isolate, purificate and culture SSCs. We also describe the recent results in which SSCs can be transformed into pluripotent stem cells, and the pluripotent stem cells have potential applications in regenerative medicine and genetic medicine.