The labyrinth of nuclear reprogramming.

One of the current chief goals of regenerative medicine involves finding a way to overcome the lack of efficient treatments for thousands of diseases. Recently, increasing evidence indicates that genetic defects observed in patient somatic cells could be erased and/or alleviated by direct reprogramming toward pluripotency and recapitulated upon directed differentiation to specific cell lineages. Therefore, major efforts have been put forth to establish efficient models of disease by the use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). In addition to disease modeling, iPSC technology also paved the way for the development of methods allowing for the generation of transplantable cellular products to reduce/halt the progression of disease symptoms or even ultimately to cure diseases. It is likely that, in the near future, these two strategies will be complementary in the discovery of new alternative treatments. However and despite enormous enthusiasm, iPSC technology still presents several pitfalls that have to be circumvented. In the present work, we will summarize the present state of iPSC technologies alongside several alternatives to the use of iPSCs that could contribute to the establishment of cell therapies.