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Regulatory networks in embryo-derived pluripotent stem cells.

Boiani M, Schöler HR

Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Mendelstrasse 7/Von-Esmarch Strasse 56, 48149 Münster, Germany.

Mammalian development requires the specification of over 200 cell types from a single totipotent cell. Investigation of the regulatory networks that are responsible for pluripotency in embryo-derived stem cells is fundamental to understanding mammalian development and realizing therapeutic potential. Extracellular signals and second messengers modulate cell-autonomous regulators such as OCT4, SOX2 and Nanog in a combinatorial complexity. Knowledge of this circuitry might reveal how to achieve phenotypic changes without the genetic manipulation of Oct4, Nanog and other toti/pluripotency-associated genes.

Published 1 November 2005 in Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol, 6(11): 872-84.
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