5. Tissue-specific stem cells

Abstract

‘Tissue-specific stem cells’ explores tissue-specific stem cells, which are stem cells found in the postnatal body that are responsible for tissue renewal or for repair following damage. Tissue-specific stem cells share with pluripotent stem cells the same ability to persist indefinitely as a population, to reproduce themselves, and to generate differentiated progeny cells. However, tissue-specific stem cells share few molecular characteristics with embryonic stem (ES) cells or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), such as expression of specific transcription factors or cell surface molecules. Only renewal tissues have stem cells in the sense of a special population of cells that reproduce themselves and continue to generate differentiated progeny.