title: Pluripotent stem cells derived from adult human testes.
abstract: Recent reports have demonstrated that adult tissue cells can be induced to pluripotency, the iPS cells, mostly with the addition of genes delivered using viruses. Also, several publications both in mouse and in human have demonstrated that spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) from testes can convert back to embryonic stem (ES)-like cells without the addition of genes. Furthermore, these pluripotent ES-like cells can differentiate into all three germ layers and organ lineages. Thus, SSCs have great potential for cell-based, autologous organ regeneration therapy for various diseases. We obtained testes from organ donors and using 1 g pieces of tissue (biopsy size) we demonstrate that testis germ cells (putative SSCs and/or their progenitors) reprogram to pluripotency when removed from their stem cell niche and when appropriate growth factors and reagents in embryonic stem cell medium are added. In addition, our method of obtaining pluripotent ES-like cells from germ cells is simpler than the described methods and may be more suitable if this procedure is developed for the clinic to obtain pluripotent cells to cure disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology, Georgetown University Medical Center, 3900 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20057, USA.
authors.forename: Nady
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Golestaneh
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kokkinaki
authors.forename: Disha
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pant
authors.forename: Jiji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: DeStefano
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fernandez-Bueno
authors.forename: Janice D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Rone
authors.forename: Bassem R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Haddad
authors.forename: G Ian
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Gallicano
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dym
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D053687:Adult Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002877:Chromosomes, Human; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008875:Middle Aged; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D013737:Testis / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism