Derivation and propagation of hESC under a therapeutic environment.

The pluripotent nature of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) makes them very attractive as a source of various cell types that could be used therapeutically in regenerative medicine. However, eliminating all sources of contamination, animal-derived or human cell-derived, during hESC derivation and propagation is necessary before hESC derivatives can be used clinically. Although there is continuing progress toward this goal, none of the methods to date to produce hESC lines under good manufacturing practices (GMP) has been published.