Induced pluripotency and epigenetic reprogramming

Abstract

Induced pluripotency defines the process by which somatic cells are converted into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) upon overexpression of a small set of transcription factors. In this article, we put transcription factor–induced pluripotency into a historical context, review current methods to generate iPSCs, and discuss mechanistic insights that have been gained into the process of reprogramming. In addition, we focus on potential therapeutic applications of induced pluripotency and emerging technologies to efficiently engineer the genomes of human pluripotent cells for scientific and therapeutic purposes.