Mouse induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) differ from embryonic stem cells with aberrant silencing of imprinted genes on chromosome 12qF1

rom AlleleNews http://www.allelebiotech.com/News//index.php?mod=article&cat=iPSStemCells&article=537

Not all iPS cells can develop into adult animals, and one of the main reasons seems to be that regions of chromosomes remain silent in most iPSCs, according to a recent Nature paper by Hochedlinger and colleagues. "We found that a segment of chromosome 12, containing genes important for fetal development was abnormally shut off in most iPSCs," Hochedlinger said in a press release. "These findings indicate we need to keep improving the way we produce iPSCs and suggest the need for new reprogramming strategies." It sounds like that reprogramming typically employed to reverse differentiation fails to activate come imprinted genes. It would make sense to include factors that can help activate imprinted genes to the reprogramming mix to have "better" iPS cells.
The good news is that by using the only 1 out of some 60 iPSC clones, this group of researchers was able to create an adult mouse. They will now look into whether human iPSCs have similar properties as their mouse counterparts.
Original publications: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature09017.html
BioTechniques Review : http://www.biotechniques.com/news/Induced-pluripotent-stem-cells-create-first-living-animal/biotechniques-273626.html
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Hailed as Science Magazine’s “#1 Breakthrough of the Year” for 2008, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell research is proving to be the most promising means of worldwide disease comprehension and eradication since the discovery of penicillin. iPS research is moving fast and institutions are racing to make the coveted advancements to: reveal the triggering and oppressing mechanisms of the four pluripotency inducing genes, elucidate how a cell is assigned a role by investigating cell protein signaling pathways, and reduce possible side effects like cancerous tumors at iPS cell therapy sites. As an invitro reagent, iPS cells, unlike human cell lines, can be easily maintained in the lab. By maintaining iPS cell lines from patients with diseases like Parkinson’s it is possible for researchers to examine disease pathology in an affected living cell in ways that cannot be done with invivo cells. Thanks to induced pluripotency, these cell lines can be created with simple, non-invasive hair follicle procurements! Additionally, juxtaposed to the 10 years of controversy following the discovery of human embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells will not elicit the same moral or bioethical dilemmas followed by political interference due to their fully developed origin.


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