title: Induced pluripotent stem cells: a new approach for physiological research.
abstract: The generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells by controlled delivery of reprogramming factors enables the derivation of pluripotent cells from a variety of somatic cell types. Patient-tailored iPS cells remove the major roadblock of immune rejection for clinical applications associated with the use of human embryonic stem (hES) cells. Beside therapeutic issues, iPS cell technology opens the door for broader research on human pluripotent cells because ethical limitations are lifted with iPS cells compared to hES cells. Scientists are now able to generate iPS cells for disease modelling and use them in basic research of physiological and pathophysiological models. In this concise review, we discuss the state of the art in the field of iPS cell induction by cell fusion or defined factors. Techniques to derive pluripotent cells from somatic sources are introduced and discussed, as well as some biological factors that influence the generation of iPS cells. We compare ES and iPS cells to answer the question whether these cells are identical, and we finish with an outlook on clinical research with iPS cells with a focus on cardiovascular medicine.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Neurophysiology, University of Cologne, Germany. Kurt.Pfannkuche@uni-koeln.de
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pfannkuche
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hannes
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khalil
authors.forename: Monireh Soroush
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Noghabi
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morshedi
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hescheler
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dröge
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000628:therapy; D065150:Cellular Reprogramming; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D057026:Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice