The Future of Regenerative Medicine, a Roadmap to Development Required

In 2006 two Japanese scientists, Shinya Yamanaka and Katzutoshi Takahashi generated induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These iPSCs resemble embryonic stem cells and can give rise to any cell type in our body. In contrast to embryonic stem cells, which are generated from early embryo’s, iPSCs are made from skin cells by introduction and expression of stem cell specific genes that ‘brainwash’ the skin cells into iPSCs. This exciting new technology can therefore be applied to generate patient own “embryonic stem cells”, representing a major scientific breakthrough providing a plethora of new possible ways to battle disease. For instance, iPSCs can be used to functionally understand disease. Also, iPSCs can be used to develop treatments, for instance as a source for high throughput compound screens. In addition, IPSCs can be used to generate cells and tissues to perform toxicological studies. Finally, iPSCs could be used as a source for differentiation protocols to generate cells or tissues for autologous transplantation. This is already feasible for some cell types and simple tissues, but complex tissues or whole organs will be very difficult or may even be impossible to generate in vitro. For this we need a better understanding of embryonic development, to be able to improve differentiation protocols, and develop alternative strategies such as organoids or chimaeric animals carrying human organs. In this seminar I will discuss our own strategies and strategies of others to generate donor tissue and organs in vitro and in vivo, and the pro’s and con’s of application of iPSCs in regenerative medicine.