Two studies published today report that human somatic cells can be reprogrammed into a pluripotent state that resembles human embryonic stem cells, generating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).
As reported in Cell, Shinya Yamanaka's group from Kyoto University reprogrammed adult human skin cells with four transcription factors to make them display human embryonic stem cell pluripotency.1 Last year, this team of researchers showed that iPSCs can be generated from mouse embryonic and adult fibroblasts by the retrovirus-mediated transfection of four transcription factors: OCT3/4, SOX2, c-Myc, and Klf4. The team used the same Yamanaka factors to generate human iPSCs. The human iPSCs could be subsequently differentiated into human cardiac cells and neural cells. The paper embargo was lifted early today because of an embargo break.
In the second paper, appearing in Science, James Thomson's group at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, used a lentivirus and the four transcription factors OCT4, SOX2, ...
