Stem Cells Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Stem Cells, including details on research, transplants, therapy, benefits.

Molecular mechanisms involved in self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem cells.

Liu N, Lu M, Tian X, Han Z

State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, National Research Center for Stem Cell Engineering and Technology, Institute of Hematology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, China.

Embryonic stem cells (ES cells) are derived from inner cell mass (ICM). The self-renewal and pluripotency are the main specificities of ES cells, which are likely to reveal a deeper understanding of human cellular biology and which are considered to be promising sources for cell therapy to treat patients with degenerative diseases in clinical. Growth of ES cells as a pluripotent population requires a balance between survival, proliferation, and self-renewal signals. In fact, the precise mechanism that regulates stem cell self-renewal and pluripotency remains largely unknown. Recently, in vitro and in vivo studies have identified several genetic regulators that may play important roles in the self-renewal and pluripotency process of human and mouse ES cells, including extracellular signaling factors, transcription factors, cell-cycle regulators, microRNA, genes implicated in chromosomal stability, and DNA methylation. In this review, we will summarize the currently known molecular regulators for ES cells self-renewal, and we will propose some possibilities to explain the ways in which these distinct pathways might interact.

Published 5 March 2007 in J Cell Physiol, 211(2): 279-86.
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