Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) based approaches for hematopoietic cancer therapy

Abstract

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are reprogrammed from somatic cells through numerous transcription factors. Human induced pluripotent stem cell approaches are developing as a hopeful strategy to improve our knowledge of genetic association studies and the underlying molecular mechanisms.  Rapid progression in stem cell therapy and cell reprogramming provides compelling reasons for its feasibility for treating a wide range of diseases through the replacement of autologous cells. Continuous failure in embryonic stem cells (ESC) production and the dependency of iPSC on ectopic genes may be due to the inability to maintain the stability of the endogenous gene systems which are essential for creation of pluripotency state. With recent developments in the genome processing and human tissue culturing approaches as well as xenotransplantation, bioengineering, and genome editing, induced pluripotent stem cells offer the new opportunities for the study of human cancers. Most hematopoietic malignancies are originated from cells that are functionally heterogeneous and few of them are responsible for maintaining tumor state. The naming of these cancer stem cells are due to the quality characteristics of normal tissue stem cells, such as self-renewal, long term survival, and the ability to produce cells with more differentiated properties. The aim of present study was to focus on the recent progresses in the application of stem cell-based hematopoietic cancer, and to assess the benefits of treatment, opportunities, and shortcomings that can potentially help improve future efforts in experimental and clinical studies.