These issues decrease the value of ECs in clinical applications. However, utilizing the ESC is associated with various limitations, including teratoma formation by embryos, immune rejection of allogeneic recipients, restricted number of available donated sources, and ethical problems of blastocyst destruction. After that, several studies have been addressed to investigate the mechanisms of stem cell pluripotency and the differentiation/dedifferentiation status. The first human embryonic stem cell was derived from blastocysts' inner cell mass. Due to increasing attention to cancer research and continuous attempts to discover novel treatments, the present review has focused on cancer cells as a source of iPSC generation to improve the efficiency of this approach and introduce a closer starting point to the aim of pluripotency.Įmbryonic stem cells (ESCs) are an example of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) exhibiting the capacity for high pluripotency, clonal expansion, and self-renewal. Several interesting questions have been raised regarding reprogramming human cancer cells into iPSCs. Īlong with the improvement and advancement of iPSC technology, cancer research fields have also changed. However, most of these studies have been done on mice. In the last decade, using small molecules instead of viral vectors increased the efficiency of non-viral somatic-iPSCs, which enhanced their safety for clinics. During de-differentiation, many specific functional-associated genes should be silenced, and many pluripotency-associated genes should be activated. However, reprogramming mature adult somatic cells into iPSCs is a challenge. Several methods have been developed for iPSC generation by delivering reprogramming factors and utilizing chemical-induced techniques. OSKM includes four factors-octamer 3/4 (Oct3/4), SRY-box-containing gene 2 (Sox2), Kruppel-like factor 4 (Klf-4), and c-myelocytomatosis (c-Myc) oncogene that is used to induce pluripotency in vitro. These alterations can be achieved using OSKM factors or other combinations offered by non-viral and viral methods, such as lentiviral, retroviral, episomal, or Sendai virus. So far, several mice and adult human somatic cells such as neural cells, dental pulps, adipose cells, amnion-derived cells, and pancreatic β-cells have been transformed into iPSCs. The discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has revolutionized the field of stem cell research and provided numerous iPSCs applications from basic research to regenerative medicine. Pluripotent stem cells express specific pluripotency markers and form embryoid bodies in vitro and teratomas in vivo. The plasticity of pluripotency is the ability of stem cells to differentiate into three germ layers, including the endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm. Cellular plasticity has been extensively observed during wound healing, normal development, cancer progression, and metastasis. This process can be triggered in response to various extrinsic and intrinsic specific signals and cues leading to acquiring new features or/and performing new functions. The ability of cells to dynamically and reversibly change in phenotype and cell identity is defined as cellular plasticity. Remarkable developments in molecular cell biology revealed that the identity of the cells could be partially or entirely altered through specific methods, even after complete differentiation. This review discusses whether cancer cells can be a preferable source to generate iPSCs. Although genetic abnormalities and potential tumor formation in cancer cells pose a severe risk, reprogrammed cancer-induced pluripotent stem cells (cancer-iPSCs) indicate that pluripotency can transiently overcome the cancer phenotype. Cancer cells show similarities with iPSCs in self-renewal capacity, reprogramming potency, and signaling pathways. It has recently been revealed that cancer cells can be a new source of iPSCs production.

However, all these sources are somatic cells, and we must make several changes in a somatic cell’s transcriptome and chromatin state to become a pluripotent cell. Different cellular resources are accessible for iPSC generation, such as keratinocytes, skin fibroblasts, and blood or urine cells. Over the last 2 decades, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have had various potential applications in various medical research areas, from personalized medicine to disease treatment.

Induced pluripotent stem cells