ABOVE: A mouse created from iPS cells derived without the transcription factor Oct4.
SERGIY VELYCHKO
Since 2006, when Shinya Yamanaka, now the director of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application at Kyoto University, discovered a method that could guide fully differentiated cells back to their pluripotent state, scientists have been using his recipe to produce induced pluripotent stem cells. The protocol relies on overexpressing the so-called Yamanaka factors, which are four transcription factors: Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and cMyc (OSKM). While the technique reliably creates iPS cells, it can cause unintended effects, some of which can lead to cells to become cancerous. So researchers have worked to adjust the cocktail and understand the function of each factor.
No one had succeeded in creating iPS cells without forcing the overexpression of Oct4. It was thought that this was the most crucial factor of the four. At least until now.
If this ...
