iPS细胞的遗传安全性

自2006年Takahashi和Yamanaka首次成功地从小鼠成纤维细胞诱导得到诱导多能性干细胞(Induced pluripotent stem cells,iPS细胞)以来,iPS细胞由于其潜在的广阔应用前景而迅速成为干细胞研究领域的新热点;与此同时,iPS细胞的遗传安全性也越来越多地受到人们的关注。文章将对iPS细胞遗传安全性的研究进展进行综述,分析造成iPS细胞遗传不稳定的可能原因,希望可以促进对iPS细胞诱导条件的优化,获得遗传上较为安全的iPS细胞。     

iPS细胞的遗传安全性

自2006年Takahashi和Yamanaka首次成功地从小鼠成纤维细胞诱导得到诱导多能性干细胞(Induced pluripotent stem cells, iPS细胞)以来, iPS细胞由于其潜在的广阔应用前景而迅速成为干细胞研究领域的新热点; 与此同时, iPS细胞的遗传安全性也越来越多地受到人们的关注。文章将对iPS细胞遗传安全性的研究进展进行综述, 分析造成iPS细胞遗传不稳定的可能原因, 希望可以促进对iPS细胞诱导条件的优化, 获得遗传上较为安全的iPS细胞。     

Genomic analysis of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells: routes to reprogramming

The phenomenal proliferation of scientific studies into the nature of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells following publication of the findings of Takahashi and Yamanaka little more than 2 years ago, have significantly expanded our understanding of cellular mechanisms relating to cell lineage, differentiation, and proliferation. While the full potential of iPS cell lineages for both scientific tool and therapeutic applications is as yet unclear, findings from several lines of investigation suggests that multipotential and terminally differentiated cells from an array of cell types are competent to undergo epigenetic reprogramming to a pluripotential state. The nature of this pluripotential state appears to be similar to, but not identical with that previously described for embryonic stem (ES) cells. Understanding the nature of this induced reprogrammed state will be critical to determining the full potential of iPS cells. Recently, this issue has been examined through an integrated analysis of the genome in fully and partially reprogrammed iPS cell lineages. These results provide a window onto the temporal components of reprogramming and suggest mechanisms by which the efficacy of reprogramming can be enhanced.     

不同物种诱导性多潜能干细胞研究进展及应用

将特定的转录因子转入细胞并使其重编程后,获得与胚胎干细胞极其相似的多潜能性干细胞,称为诱导性多潜能干细胞(induced Pluripotent Stem Cells,iPS),它是由日本Yamanaka研究小组首次构建并命名。iPS细胞具有极强地自我更新和多项分化潜能,有发育和分化形成机体内几乎所有组织细胞类型的潜能,从而构成机体各种复杂的组织器官,且避免了在伦理、道德、宗教、法律和免疫排斥等诸多问题。随着iPS技术的不断发展,不同物种的iPS细胞相继产生,为细胞代替治疗、疾病模型的建立和药物筛选及再生医学等注入了新的活力。目前,iPS细胞的研究尚处于初级阶段,在临床应用上还存在诸多问题,本文将对近年来不同物种iPS细胞的产生、应用,及我们未来面临的问题和挑战进行综述。     

Activation of the Imprinted Dlk1-Dio3 Region Correlates with Pluripotency Levels of Mouse Stem Cells

Low reprogramming efficiency and reduced pluripotency have been the two major obstacles in induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell research. An effective and quick method to assess the pluripotency levels of iPS cells at early stages would significantly increase the success rate of iPS cell generation and promote its applications. We have identified a conserved imprinted region of the mouse genome, the Dlk1-Dio3 region, which was activated in fully pluripotent mouse stem cells but repressed in partially pluripotent cells. The degree of activation of this region was positively correlated with the pluripotency levels of stem cells. A mammalian conserved cluster of microRNAs encoded by this region exhibited significant expression differences between full and partial pluripotent stem cells. Several microRNAs from this cluster potentially target components of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) and may form a feedback regulatory loop resulting in the expression of all genes and non-coding RNAs encoded by this region in full pluripotent stem cells. No other genomic regions were found to exhibit such clear expression changes between cell lines with different pluripotency levels; therefore, the Dlk1-Dio3 region may serve as a marker to identify fully pluripotent iPS or embryonic stem cells from partial pluripotent cells. These findings also provide a step forward toward understanding the operating mechanisms during reprogramming to produce iPS cells and can potentially promote the application of iPS cells in regenerative medicine and cancer therapy.     

Induced pluripotent stem cells: a new technology to study human diseases

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) are somatic cells that have been reprogrammed to a pluripotent state by the introduction of specific factors. They can be generated from cells of different origins such as fibroblasts, keratinocytes, hepatocytes and blood. iPS cells are similar to embryonic stem cells in several aspects such as morphology, expression of pluripotency markers and the capacity to develop teratomas; tumors containing cells of the three germ layers. As pluripotent stem cells they can be differentiated into several lineages including neuronal, cardiac and blood cells. Recently, several groups have successfully generated patient-specific iPS cells from donors suffering different disorders and differentiated them into the cell type affected by the disease. These new human cell-based models cannot only be used to study the dynamics of diseases but also as systems to screen new drugs. Moreover, iPS cells promise to be good candidates for regenerative medicine.     

诱导多能干细胞在心血管疾病研究和治疗中的应用

诱导多能干细胞（induced pluripotent stem cells,iPS细胞）不仅具有与胚胎干细胞（embryonic stem cell,ESC）相似的各项特性,相对于ESC,iPS细胞,尤其患者特异性iPS细胞还具有来源方便、不存在免疫排斥和伦理问题以及可以保留特定个体基因型等优点,为再生医学提供了可能的细胞来源。该文主要从心血管药物的筛选、疾病模型的建立、iPS细胞应用于心脏移植研究等方面入手,探讨了iPS细胞在心血管疾病研究和治疗中的现状和未来。