Low pH reprograms somatic murine cells into pluripotent stem cells: a novel technique with therapeutic implications

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are somatic cells that are reprogrammed into a state resembling embryonic stem cells (ESCs). iPSCs represent a promising technology with applications in cancer research, yet current methods used to generate iPSCs limit their translation to clinical use. In a recent Nature article, Obokata et al. detail a novel technique to generate pluripotent murine cells called stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency (STAP). STAP eliminates the need for exogenous expression of reprogramming factors used in previous iPSC technologies, instead transforming somatic cells to pluripotency using physical and chemical stimuli. The authors found that STAP cells are generated at a 10-fold higher efficiency than prior iPSC technologies. STAP cells display several features of pluripotency, namely the expression of pluripotency-related genes (Oct4, Nanog, Sox2, Ecat1, Esg1, and Dax1), the ability to form teratomas in vivo, and the ability to produce viable, fertile mice in blastocyst complementation assays. Here, we review these findings on STAP and contrast it to previous iPSC technologies, while noting the potential of this method to generate autologous anti-tumor immune cells for cancer therapy.