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(Circulation. 2008;118:472-475.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

Get With the (Re)Program

Cardiovascular Potential of Skin-Derived Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Nathaniel L. Tulloch, BS; Lil Pabon, PhD; Charles E. Murry, MD, PhD

From the Departments of Pathology (N.L.T., L.P., C.E.M.) and Bioengineering (C.E.M.), Center for Cardiovascular Biology, Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle.

Correspondence to Charles E. Murry, MD, PhD, Center for Cardiovascular Biology, Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington, 815 Mercer St, Brotman Bldg, Room 453, Seattle, WA 98109. E-mail murry@u.washington.edu

Key Words: Editorials • cardiovascular diseases • myocytes • reprogramming • stem cells

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

	Introduction

 
The reprogramming of adult cells to a pluripotent state resembling embryonic stem (ES) cells is one of the most exciting advances in stem cell biology in the last decade. These induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells offer the potential for autologous regenerative therapies, new models to understand disease, and systems for drug discovery. Little is known, however, about the ability of iPS cells to generate cell types of relevance to the cardiovascular system. Two articles^1,2 in this issue of Circulation indicate that cardiomyocytes, smooth muscle cells, and multiple types of endothelium can be derived from mouse iPS cells, encouraging efforts toward developing patient-matched cells for cardiovascular disorders.

Articles pp 498 and 507

	Creating Pluripotent Non-ES Cells

 
The cloning of Dolly the sheep³ involved reprogramming of an udder cell to a totipotent state by fusion with an enucleated sheep oocyte. Although this breakthrough demonstrated that all mammalian tissues could arise from a single differentiated nucleus, the factors required remained enigmatic. The mechanistic breakthrough came when Takahashi and Yamanaka⁴ overexpressed a battery of candidate genes in mouse dermal fibroblasts and then grew the cells under conditions favoring expansion of ES cells. They found that ES-like cells emerged, and they systematically winnowed the required list down to 4 transcription factors: Oct4, Sox2, c-myc, and Klf4 (Figure 1). Oct4 and Sox2 are part of the core transcriptional network required for pluripotency. c-myc is a protooncogene required for cell cycle progression. Klf4 is a cell cycle regulator that may control self-renewal of ES cells and block apoptotic pathways . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. S. Forrester, R. R. Makkar, and E. Marban Long-term outcome of stem cell therapy for acute myocardial infarction: right results, wrong reasons. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol., June 16, 2009; 53(24): 2270 - 2272. [Full Text] [PDF]