Toward Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells for Clinical Use: Sources, Methods and Selection

Since their development by Yamanaka in 2007, much progress has been made in the last decade toward the use of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in clinical practice. In this review, we will focus on the various sources of somatic cells for human iPSC generation, the methods used for generating human iPSCs, their characterization, and the progress on directed differentiation toward several cell types. We will also describe current efforts to prevent culture-driven mutations and the selection of nontumorigenic cells for clinical use. A comprehensive comparison of such methods will aid in the establishment of standardized techniques and highlight areas in which further research is still needed.

Keywords: cMyc, Cell Reprogramming, Cell Therapy, Clinical Grade IPSC, Differentiation, Disease Modelling, Epigenetics, Episomal Vectors, Embryonic Stem Cells, Genetic Stability, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Klf4, Matrigel, Oct4, PBMCs, Pluripotency, Quality Control, Retrovirus, Sox2, SSEA, Transfection, Transplantation.