Functional roles of pluripotency transcription factors in mesenchymal stem cells

Pluripotency, the capacity of a cell to give rise to differentiated derivatives that represent each of the three primary germ layers, belongs to the cells that are located within the inner cell mass (ICM) of the developing blastocyst. Functional studies have identified a group of transcription factors, the pluripotency transcription factors that affect the pluripotent capacity. Within this group, the transcription factors Oct4 (Pou5f1), Nanog and Sox2 are crucial for the efficient maintenance of pluripotent cell identity. During mouse development, the specification of pluripotent cell identity requires the embryonic genome to express Oct4 and Nanog, but not Sox2, perhaps owing to the presence of long-lived maternal Sox2 protein. Pluripotency transcription factors regulate stem cell pluripotency and differentiation via the colocalization and the cooperation with each other, polycomb repressive complexes (PRC) and microRNAs in the transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of key stem cell genes. Stem cell is a specific cell population with the abilities of self-renewal and multipotent differentiation. According to the origin and potentiality of the cells, mammalian stem cells could be classified into two groups: one is embryonic stem cells (ESCs), which are isolated from ICM of blastocysts; the other is adult stem cells, such as hematopoietic stem cells, neural stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are found in adult tissues. In addition, it has been demonstrated that somatic cell can be reprogrammed to pluripotent-like stem cells, otherwise known as induced pluripotent stemlike cells (iPS) by overexpressing specific Functional roles of pluripotency transcription factors in mesenchymal stem cells