1. Academic Validation
  2. Pluripotent stem cells induced from mouse somatic cells by small-molecule compounds

Pluripotent stem cells induced from mouse somatic cells by small-molecule compounds

  • Science. 2013 Aug 9;341(6146):651-4. doi: 10.1126/science.1239278.
Pingping Hou 1 Yanqin Li Xu Zhang Chun Liu Jingyang Guan Honggang Li Ting Zhao Junqing Ye Weifeng Yang Kang Liu Jian Ge Jun Xu Qiang Zhang Yang Zhao Hongkui Deng
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 College of Life Sciences and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Abstract

Pluripotent stem cells can be induced from somatic cells, providing an unlimited cell resource, with potential for studying disease and use in regenerative medicine. However, genetic manipulation and technically challenging strategies such as nuclear transfer used in reprogramming limit their clinical applications. Here, we show that pluripotent stem cells can be generated from mouse somatic cells at a frequency up to 0.2% using a combination of seven small-molecule compounds. The chemically induced pluripotent stem cells resemble embryonic stem cells in terms of their gene expression profiles, epigenetic status, and potential for differentiation and germline transmission. By using small molecules, exogenous "master genes" are dispensable for cell fate reprogramming. This chemical reprogramming strategy has potential use in generating functional desirable cell types for clinical applications.

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