Abstract
Pluripotent stem cells are able to differentiate into all types of cells in the body and have great potential for applications in regenerative medicine. However, the fact that the isolation and establishment of human ES cell lines involve embryo destruction leads to extensive ethical concerns and debates. iPS cells, from fibroblasts with four Yamanaka factors, share a similar gene expression profile and differentiation potential with ES cells. Although the successful derivation of iPS cells solves the problems of ethical issues and immunological rejection, there are concerns about the safety of using iPS cells for therapeutic applications. Recently, our group reported the generation of multipotent cells from adult human dermal fibroblast cells by incorporating lactic acid bacteria. In this review article, I will overview the history for our discovery and introduce the potential wide-ranging implications of our multipotent cells for cell generation, reprogramming, and cell-based therapy.
