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Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Reprogramming Human Somatic Cells into Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells iPSCs Using Retroviral Vector with GFP
Published on: April 3, 2012
Vitamin C in Stem Cell Reprogramming and Cancer
Luisa Cimmino1, Benjamin G Neel2, Iannis Aifantis1
1Department of Pathology, New York University (NYU) School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA; Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Abstract:
Vitamin C is an essential dietary requirement for humans. In addition to its known role as an antioxidant, vitamin C is a cofactor for Fe2+- and α-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases (Fe2+/α-KGDDs) which comprise a large number of diverse enzymes, including collagen prolyl hydroxylases and epigenetic regulators of histone and DNA methylation. Vitamin C can modulate embryonic stem cell (ESC) function, enhance reprogramming of fibroblasts to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and hinder the aberrant self-renewal of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) through its ability to enhance the activity of either Jumonji C (JmjC) domain-containing histone demethylases or ten-eleven translocation (TET) DNA hydroxylases. Given that epigenetic dysregulation is a known driver of malignancy, vitamin C may play a novel role as an epigenetic anticancer agent.
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