ABSTRACT
In mice induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC) have been shown to have the same potency as murine Embryonic Stem Cells (ESC) including competence to become part of the germline in chimaeric animals and give rise to live offspring. It has already been shown for human iPSC that they differentiate in the same way as human ESC (hESC) when exposed to validated treatment protocols known to lead to a specific differentiation. The research groups both used a technique where four genes known to be active in embryonic stem cells were introduced in somatic cells by retroviruses and over expressed. Many technological problems still remain before iPSC can be used for therapies. One of the present methods for creating iPSC involves a known oncogene that has been found to be reactivated in some murine iPSC chimeras. The other method is so new that it is unknown what risks it might have, but simply using retroviral inserts creates a risk of carcinogenesis.
