Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine - From molecular embryology to tissue engineering

Abstract

Maria J. Barrero and Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte sign a very interesting paper on EMBO reports (Regenerating the epigenome, EMBO reports 12:208-215, 2011) where they point out that Organisms have evolved two strategies by which to achieve this: the maintenance of adult stem cells and the induction of stemcell properties in differentiated cells. In both cases, cells must undergo extensive epigenetic reprogramming to attain the specialized functions of the new tissue. Ultimately, the regenerative capacity of a tissue might depend on the plasticity of the cellular epigenome, which determines the ability of the cell to respond to injuryrelated signals. Understanding this epigenetic plasticity will allow the development of strategies to stimulate the regeneration of damaged tissues and organs in humans...