title: Hunt for pluripotent stem cell -- regenerative medicine search for almighty cell.
abstract: Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering are searching for a novel stem cell based therapeutic strategy that will allow for efficient treatment or even potential replacement of damaged organs. The pluripotent stem cell (PSC), which gives rise to cells from all three germ lineages, seems to be the most ideal candidate for such therapies. PSC could be extracted from developing embryos. However, since this source of stem cells for potential therapeutic purposes remains controversial, stem cell researchers look for PSC that could be isolated from the adult tissues or generated from already differentiated cells. True PSC should possess both potential for multilineage differentiation in vitro and, more importantly, also be able to complement in vivo blastocyst development. This review will summarize current approaches and limitations to isolate PSC from adult tissues or, alternatively, to generate it by nuclear reprogramming from already differentiated somatic cells.
authors.affiliation: Stem Cell Institute, James Graham Brown Cancer Center, University of Louisville, 500 South Floyd Street, Louisville, KY 40202, USA. mzrata01@louisville.edu
authors.forename: Mariusz Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Ratajczak
authors.forename: Ewa K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Zuba-Surma
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wysoczynski
authors.forename: Wu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Janina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ratajczak
authors.forename: Wojciech
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wojakowski
authors.forename: Magda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kucia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D002469:Cell Separation; D065150:Cellular Reprogramming; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D039902:Multipotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology; D044968:Regenerative Medicine; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D039901:Totipotent Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology