Cellular reprogramming

Abstract

Nuclear reprogramming technology was first established more than 50 years ago. It can rejuvenate somatic cells by erasing the epigenetic memories and reconstructing a new pluripotent order. The recent discovery reviewed here that induced pluripotency can be achieved by a small set of transcription factors has opened up unprecedented opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry, the clinic, and laboratories. This technology allows us to access pathological studies by using patient-specific induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. In addition, iPS cells are also expected to be a rising star for regenerative medicine, as sources of transplantation therapy.

Figure 1.

Cellular reprogramming depicted as a trajectory in Waddington’s epigenetic landscape. (A) A cell’s normal developmental trajectory can be traced starting from a pluripotent cell (green ball) at the top of the hill to its final differentiated state (blue ball), illustrating how epigenetics contributes to cell fate determination during development. (B) A terminally differentiated cell (blue ball) can be reprogrammed back to pluripotency when exposed to a cocktail of transcription factors.