title: Lonely death dance of human pluripotent stem cells: ROCKing between metastable cell states.
abstract: Two kinds of human pluripotent cells, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), promise new avenues for medical innovation. These human cells share many similarities with mouse counterparts, including pluripotency, and they exhibit several unique properties. This review examines the diversity of mammalian pluripotent cells from a perspective of metastable pluripotency states. An intriguing phenomenon unique to human pluripotent stem cells is dissociation-induced apoptosis, which has been a technical problem for various cellular manipulations. The discovery that this apoptosis is suppressed by ROCK inhibitors brought revolutionary change to this troublesome situation. We discuss possible links of the metastable pluripotent state to ROCK-dependent human embryonic stem cell apoptosis and summarize recent progress in molecular understandings of this phenomenon.
authors: Unit for Human Stem Cell Technology, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Kobe, 650-0047, Japan.
authors: Masatoshi
authors: M
authors: Ohgushi
authors: Yoshiki
authors: Y
authors: Sasai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D057026:Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D009218:Myosins / Q000378:metabolism; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D012234:Rho Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D020744:rac GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D054460:rho-Associated Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; D012234:Rho Factor; D054460:rho-Associated Kinases; D009218:Myosins; D020744:rac GTP-Binding Proteins