Recent progress in the field of cellular reprogramming has opened up the doors to a new era of disease modelling, as pluripotent stem cells representing a myriad of genetic diseases can now be produced from patient tissue. These cells can be expanded and differentiated to produce a potentially limitless supply of the affected cell type, which can then be used as a tool to improve understanding of disease mechanisms and test therapeutic interventions. This process requires high levels of scrutiny and validation at every stage, but international standards for the characterisation of pluripotent cells and their progeny have yet to be established. Here we discuss the current state of the art with regard to modelling diseases affecting the ectodermal, mesodermal and endodermal lineages, focussing on studies which have demonstrated a disease phenotype in the tissue of interest. We also discuss the utility of pluripotent cell technology for the modelling of cancer and infectious disease. Finally, we spell out the technical and scientific challenges which must be addressed if the field is to deliver on its potential and produce improved patient outcomes in the clinic.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1566523211313020004 | DOI Listing |
Aging Dis
January 2025
Achucarro Basque Center for Neuroscience, University of the Basque Country, CIBERNED and Biobizkaia, 48940-Leioa, Spain.
There is increasing pressure for researchers to reduce their reliance on animals, particularly in early-stage research. The main reason for that change arises from the different biological behavior of humans that leads to frequent failure of translating data from bench to bed. The advent of organoid technology ten years ago, along with the feasibility of obtaining brain organoids in most laboratories, has created considerable expectations not exempting frustration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Mater
January 2025
State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, P. R. China.
Replicating the structural and functional features of native myocardium, particularly its high-density cellular alignment and efficient electrical connectivity, is essential for engineering functional cardiac tissues. Here, novel electrohydrodynamically printed InterPore microfibrous lattices with anisotropic architectures are introduced to promote high-density cellular alignment and enhanced tissue interconnectivity. The interconnected pores in the microfibrous lattice enable dynamic, cell-mediated remodeling of fibrous hydrogels, resulting in continuous, mechanically stable tissue bundles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRegen Ther
March 2025
Department of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan.
Introduction: Tau protein plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in regulating neuronal excitability. Among tau-coding microtubule associated protein tau () gene mutations, the A152T mutation is reported to increase the risk of AD and neuronal excitability in mouse models.
Methods: To investigate the effects of gene expression and its mutations on neuronal activity in human neurons, we employed genome editing technology to introduce the A152T or P301S mutations into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).
BMC Med Genomics
January 2025
Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN), University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) lacks a specific biomarker, but is defined by relatively selective toxicity to motor neurons (MN). As others have highlighted, this offers an opportunity to develop a sensitive and specific biomarker based on detection of DNA released from dying MN within accessible biofluids. Here we have performed whole genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) of iPSC-derived MN from neurologically normal individuals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNPJ Regen Med
January 2025
Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan.
Gut microbiota affect transplantation outcomes; however, the influence of immunosuppression and cell therapy on the gut microbiota in cardiovascular care remains unexplored. We investigated gut microbiota dynamics in a nonhuman primate (NHP) cardiac ischemia/reperfusion model while under immunosuppression and receiving cell therapy with human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived endothelial cells (EC) and cardiomyocytes (CM). Both immunosuppression and EC/CM co-treatment increased gut microbiota alpha diversity.
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