Stem Cells: Paradigm and Present Concepts

The ultimate goal of stem cell technology is to generate and expand cells that can be used in human diseases and regenerative medicine. Diseases that might benefit from cell therapy include but are not limited to the juvenile diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, myocardial necrosis, spinal cord injury, and nonunion fractures. Two major sources for human cell therapy have been adult stem (AS) cells and embryonic stem (ES) cells. Major achievement was made to generate pluripotent stem cells by inducing pluripotency in cells obtained from patients, and treat patients with patient reprogrammed cells. In this review we discuss sources and recent techniques for inducing pluripotency in cells for using in clinic and we will review concerns regarding potential undesired consequences of cell therapy with reprogrammed cells. *Corresponding Author: Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Science, Shariati Hospital, North Kargar Street, 14114 Tehran, Iran. Tel: +98 (21) 88220037-38, Fax: +98 (21) 88220052, [email protected] D ow nl oa de d fr om h ttp :// jo ur na ls .tu m s. ac .ir o n F rid ay , J an ua ry 0 6, 2 01 2 Larijani et al., Stem cells: Paradigm and present concepts 2