title: Induced pluripotency and direct reprogramming: a new window for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
abstract: Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are pluripotent cells that have the ability of unlimited self-renewal and can be differentiated into different cell lineages, including neural stem (NS) cells. Diverse regulatory signaling pathways of neural stem cells differentiation have been discovered, and this will be of great benefit to uncover the mechanisms of neuronal differentiation in vivo and in vitro. However, the limitations of hESCs resource along with the religious and ethical concerns impede the progress of ESCs application. Therefore, the induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) via somatic cell reprogramming have opened up another new territory for regenerative medicine. iPSCs now can be derived from a number of lineages of cells, and are able to differentiate into certain cell types, including neurons. Patient-specifi c iPSCs are being used in human neurodegenerative disease modeling and drug screening. Furthermore, with the development of somatic direct reprogramming or lineage reprogramming technique, a more effective approach for regenerative medicine could become a complement for iPSCs.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.forename: Tongtong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xiaoqun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D054338:Cell Transdifferentiation; D065150:Cellular Reprogramming / Q000187:drug effects; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D057026:Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D044968:Regenerative Medicine; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014157:Transcription Factors