posted on 2019-03-05, 17:13authored byNaohiro Terada, Noriko Watanabe, Katherine E. Santostefano, Anthony T. Yachnis
Induced
pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology was originally developed in 2006. Essentially, it converts somatic cells into
pluripotent stem cells by transiently expressing a few transcriptional factors. Once generated, these
iPSCs can differentiate into all the cell types of our body,
theoretically, which has attracted great attention for clinical research
including disease pathobiology
studies. Could this technology then become an additional research or diagnostic
tool widely available to practicing pathologists? Here we summarize progress in
iPSC research toward disease pathobiology studies, its future potential, and
remaining problems from a pathologist’s perspective. A particular focus will be
on introducing the effort to recapitulate disease-related morphological changes
through three-dimensional culture of stem cells such as organoid
differentiation.