The Pros And Cons Of Pluripotent Stem Cell

Stem cells have been under intense research because of their remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types within the body. Under certain experimental conditions, they can be induced to become tissue specific cells with special functions. When the human stem cell was first discovered, researchers primarily utilized embryonic stem cells (ESCs), undifferentiated cells derived from a 5-day preimplantation embryo known to develop into cells and tissues of the three primary germ layers (Rippon and Bishop 2004). Because the extractions of human ESCs result in the destruction of an embryo, stem cell research has been highly controversial. However, recent advances have allowed the creation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), somatic (adult) cells that have been “reprogrammed” into a pluripotent state. (Takahashi et al. 2007). In this paper, I propose that human induced pluripotent stem cells be more strongly considered as a model for studying human development. Strengths and weaknesses of using the hiPSCs as a model, as well as the methods of inducing pluripotency will be discussed and reviewed.

Pluripotent stem cells were first induced using other model organisms such as Xenopus and Mus, but the methods were still considered controversial because they still included the use of an embryonic stem cell (such as cell fusion, nuclear injection) . In 2006, a new method of inducing pluripotency that did not utilize an embryonic stem cell was generated by manipulating the four reprogramming factors Oct3/4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc. They were integrated into the genome of mice fibroblast cells using retroviral vectors, which yielded cells capable of in vitro and in vivo differentiation into various cells of all three g...

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...nt stem cells hope to mimic, but I believe that with the current and future research, iPSCs could prove to be even more useful than embryonic stem cells. Firstly, it cannot simply be assumed that cultured embryonic stem cells in vitro behave identically to actual embryos in vivo. Should embryonic stem cells are often used as a control when comparing and assessing the efficacy of induced pluripotent stem cell? If embryonic stem cells are also considered “man-made” and do not accurately represent in vivo embryos, then it cannot be assumed that they are a superior research model than induced pluripotent stem cells. Furthermore, the versatility, cost-effectiveness, and ethically favorable qualities of induced pluripotent stem cells, combined with new technologies and research methods that continue to be discovered suggest that iPSCs have a bright and productive future.