[Pluripotent stem cells on cell therapy]

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are a novel stem cell population derived from human somatic cells through reprogramming using a set of transcription factors. These iPS cells were shown to share the characteristics of embryonic stem cells, including the ability to give rise to differentiated cells of every tissue type of the body. In the shorter term, iPS cells will be useful for creating patient-identical disease model cells in which the pathological process can be studied and drugs can be tested. Despite critical attitudes, accumulating preclinical evidence supports the effectiveness of iPSC-based cell therapy on the selection of appropriate iPSC clones. The production of iPS cells has also spurred the development of other techniques, for example, transdifferentiation by researchers can now convert heart fibroblasts directly in vivo into myocytes by similar methods. This pluripotent cells is indeed of great value in medical research and it is opening new possibilities in cell therapy.