Stem Cells InternationalVolume 2011 (2011), Article ID 584686, 1 pagedoi:10.4061/2011/584686

Editorial

Stem Cells and Nuclear Reprogramming

Fuliang Du,¹ Mark G. Carter,² Giorgio A. Presicce,³ Shinn-Chih Wu,⁴ and Perng-Chih Shen⁵

¹Renova Life Inc., University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA²Center for Regenerative Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA³Consorzio di Ricerca e Sperimentazione per gli Allevatori (CRSA), 00161 Rome, Italy⁴Department of Animal Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan⁵Department of Animal Science, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung 912, Taiwan

Received 18 August 2011; Accepted 18 August 2011

Copyright © 2011 Fuliang Du et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Stem cells are found in all multicellular organisms, including two broadly defined cell types: embryonic stem cells (ESC) (C. Y. Cheong and T. Lufkin; and N. Lifantseva et al.) that are derived from the inner cell mass of blastocyst-stage embryos and adult stem cells that are present in adult tissues (C. M. Teven et al., R. Chung et al., and A. C. Wilber et al.). Nuclear reprogramming refers to the erasure and remodeling of epigenetic marks, which is a part of normal mammalian development. This reprogramming is likely required for totipotency of the newly formed embryo and erasure of acquired epigenetic changes (Felici). Advances in stem cells including induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells (D. Dey and G. R. D. Evans; and P. Noisa and R. Parnpai) and nuclear reprogramming (C. M. Teven et al.) will provide new insights into the mechanisms of cellular differentiation, during embryonic development (N. Lifantsevaa et al.) as well as in adult tissues (C. M. Teven et al.), and their pluripotency (A. C. Wilber et al.), which may lead to cell-based therapies (R. Eggenschwiler et al.) for several human diseases (R. Chung et al.).

Fuliang DuMark G. CarterGiorgio A. PresicceShinn-Chih WuPerng-Chih Shen