Title

Pluripotency: toward a gold standard for human ES and iPS cells

UMMS Affiliation

Department of Cell Biology

Publication Date

2009-07-28

Document Type

Article

Subjects

Adult Stem Cells; Biological Assay; *Cell Differentiation; *Cell Lineage; *Embryo Research; Embryonic Stem Cells; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Humans; *Nuclear Reprogramming; Pluripotent Stem Cells; Reproducibility of Results; Terminology as Topic

Disciplines

Cell Biology

Abstract

With the advent of technologies for the derivation of embryonic stem cells and reprogrammed stem cells, use of the term "pluripotent" has become widespread. Despite its increased scientific and political importance, there are ambiguities with this designation and a common standard for experimental approaches that precisely define this state in human cells remains elusive. Recent studies have revealed that reprogramming may occur via many pathways which do not always lead to pluripotency. In addition, the pluripotent state itself appears to be highly dynamic, leading to significant variability in the results of molecular studies. Establishment of a stringent set of criteria for defining pluripotency will be vital for biological studies and potential clinical applications in this rapidly evolving field. In this review, we explore the various definitions of pluripotency, examine the current status of pluripotency testing in the field and provide an analysis of how these assays have been used to establish pluripotency in the scientific literature.

DOI of Published Version

10.1002/jcp.21681

Source

J Cell Physiol. 2009 Jul;220(1):21-9. Link to article on publisher's site

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of cellular physiology

Related Resources

Link to Article in PubMed

PubMed ID

19326392

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