Adipocyte progenitors from human pluripotent stem cells

Abstract

The current epidemic of obesity and overweight has caused a surge of interest in the study of adipose tissue formation. Much progress has been made in defining the transcriptional networks controlling the terminal differentiation of preadipocytes into mature adipocytes. However, the early steps that direct pluripotent stem cells down the adipocyte lineage remain largely unknown. Similarly, the study of the developmental origins of adipocytes has been largely overlooked until now. Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) provide a novel cell model for investigating human adipocyte ontogenesis. From a clinical standpoint, many issues have to be resolved before using hiPS-derived adipocyte progenitors in cell-based therapeutic for obesity. However, the differentiation of iPS cells towards the adipogenic lineage offers a unique opportunity to purify brown adipocytes from patients, which could lead to the development of autologous transplantation procedures to counteract obesity. This chapter summarizes recent work on the developmental origins and the therapeutic potential of adipocyte progenitors from human pluripotent stem cells.