Since it was first demonstrated that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells)
could be derived from mature cells, significant progress has been made in the field of
acquisition, characteristics, identification and application of iPS cells. Until now,
diverse means have been proven to generate iPS cells successfully in many biological
species and more cell types. Meanwhile, researchers continue to target the efficiency of
induction. To identify the characteristics of induced pluripotent stem cells and attest to
their pluripotency, one must verify the expression of new derived stem cell genes and
proteins, doubling times, methylation patterns, teratoma formation, embryoid body
formation, viable chimera formation and capacity to differentiate into all cell types. In
other words, induced pluripotent stem cells are theoretically similar, or even same, to
natural pluripotent stem cells, for instance embryonic stem (ES) cells. Furthermore, iPS
cells have the potential to take the place of ES cells eventually, from which numerous
ethical difficulties arise for the treatment of a mass of diseases, for use in therapeutics
for drug discovery, disease modeling and regenerative medicine, etc. However, many
problems exist as barriers to clinical transformation, including risk for induced
oncogenesis and the stability of reprogramming. Here we summarize the current acquaintance of iPS generation and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of
their applications in clinical medicine.
Keywords: Biological safety, Biometric identification, Cellular biological
properties, Cell differentiation, Cellular reprogramming, Induced pluripotent stem
cell, Investigation of drugs, Pluripotency, Regenerative medicine.
