Nuclear reprogramming and adult stem cell potential.
Cell-based therapy may represent a new strategy to treat a vast array of clinical disorders including neurodegenerative diseases. Recent observations indicate that adult somatic stem cells have the capacity to contribute to the regeneration of different tissues, suggesting that differentiative restrictions are not completely irreversible and can be reprogrammed. Cell fusion might account for some changed phenotype of adult cells but it seems to be biologically irrelevant for its extreme rarity. Other experimental evidences are compatible with the hypothesis of wide multipotency of well-defined stem cell populations, but also with transdifferentiation and/or dedifferentiation. Further studies on nuclear reprogramming mechanisms are necessary to fulfil the promise for developing autologous cellular therapies.
Corti
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Dino Ferrari Center, Neurological Department, University of Milan, IRCCS, Policlinico Hospital, Via Francesco Sforza 35, 20122 Milan, Italy.
Locatelli
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Papadimitriou
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Strazzer
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Bonato
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Comi
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D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002459:Cell Fusion; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000628:therapy; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism