Andreia Gianotti Sommer, Sarah S Rozelle, Spencer Sullivan, Jason A Mills, Seon-Mi Park, Brenden W Smith, Amulya M Iyer, Deborah L French, Darrell N Kotton, Paul Gadue, George J Murphy, Gustavo Mostoslavsky
Through the ectopic expression of four transcription factors, Oct4, Klf4, Sox2 and cMyc, human somatic cells can be converted to a pluripotent state, generating so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)(1-4). Patient-specific iPSCs lack the ethical concerns that surround embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and would bypass possible immune rejection. Thus, iPSCs have attracted considerable attention for disease modeling studies, the screening of pharmacological compounds, and regenerative therapies(5). We have shown the generation of transgene-free human iPSCs from patients with different lung diseases using a single excisable polycistronic lentiviral Stem Cell Cassette (STEMCCA) encoding the Yamanaka factors(6)...
October 31, 2012: Journal of Visualized Experiments: JoVE