Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from Basic Research to Potential Clinical Applications in Cancer

Abstract

The human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are derived from a direct reprogramming of human somatic cells to a pluripotent stage through ectopic expression of specific transcription factors. These cells have two important properties, which are the self-renewal capacity and the ability to differentiate into any cell type of the human body. So, the discovery of hiPSCs opens new opportunities in biomedical sciences, since these cells may be useful for understanding the mechanisms of diseases in the production of new diseases models, in drug development/drug toxicity tests, gene therapies, and cell replacement therapies. However, the hiPSCs technology has limitations including the potential for the development of genetic and epigenetic abnormalities leading to tumorigenicity. Nowadays, basic research in the hiPSCs field has made progress in the application of new strategies with the aim to enable an efficient production of high-quality of hiPSCs for safety and efficacy, necessary to the future application for clinical practice. In this review, we show the recent advances in hiPSCs' basic research and some potential clinical applications focusing on cancer. We also present the importance of the use of statistical methods to evaluate the possible validation for the hiPSCs for future therapeutic use toward personalized cell therapies.

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell as a New Source for Cancer Immunotherapy

“…Declared activation of tumor-specific CTLs is the main goal of cancer immunotherapy; so, adoptive transfer of tumor-specific T-cells is one of the effective therapeutic approaches for fighting against many types of malignancies [ 55 – 57 ]. The isolation of tumor-specific T-cells from a cancer patient, in vitro preparation (activation and expansion), and transfusion of these T-cells to the patient are basic steps of adaptive immunotherapy with T-cell [ 55 ], although there are some problems with this approach, for example, the low number of antigen-specific T-cells and senescence of these activated cells [ 55 , 56 , 58 ]. Then, iPSC technology can be used to improve the efficacy of adoptive cell transfer immunotherapy (ACT).…”

Reprogramming cancer cells: A novel approach for cancer therapy or a tool for disease-modeling?

“…Activation of transcription factors and modification of chromatin regulators may result in the remodeling of epigenetic status and refueling of tumorigenicity in these reprogrammed cancer cells. However, until now, studies that focused on cancer cell reprogramming [58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67] are contradictory; some studies reported increased tumor progression whereas others showed cellular reprogramming has a treatment potential for cancer:…”

Use of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells to Define Initiating Molecular Mechanisms of Cataract for Anti-Cataract Drug Discovery

“…The ability to define the initiating molecular mechanisms of human cataract formation—and, therefore, effective treatments to inhibit or delay cataract progression—has largely been hampered by the lack of access to functional human lens tissue at the initial stages of cataract formation. The ability of human pluripotent stem (PS) cells to (i) self-renew and (ii) differentiate into any cell type of the body, means human PS cells can provide a large-scale source of normal or diseased human cells for research [1,2,3,4]. Consequently, human PS cells are enabling new research approaches into human cell and tissue development, elucidation of molecular disease mechanisms, drug discovery and toxicity assessments, and investigation of candidate cell-based therapies.…”