Stem Cell Stress Responses: Mechanisms, Models, and Implications
A special issue of Biology (ISSN 2079-7737). This special issue belongs to the section "Cell Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 75
Special Issue Editor
Interests: stem cells; stress response; neuroscience; neurodevelopmental disorders; protein synthesis; gene expression; TRP channels; pancreatic development
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), including embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), characteristics such as epigenetic state, gene expression profiles, and the cellular localization of proteins are quite different from those in differentiated and somatic cells. Due to these differences, responses to external stimuli and stresses such as hypoxic, heat, oxidative and mechanical stress and chemicals, as well as the ligands of channels and receptors, differ between PSCs and differentiated cells. For example, PSCs are highly sensitive to proteotoxic stress due to MG132, and the levels of stress-responsive transcription factors change during differentiation. Furthermore, the differences in stress responses between cancer stem cells and cancer cells also represent an attractive research field regarding the development of chemotherapies for cancers.
In this Special Issue, we would like to focus on these differences and the mechanisms determining how these cells respond differentially to external stimuli and stresses. By clarifying these areas, we can identify the characteristics of stress responses and their mediators in PSCs and set up a differentiation protocol for somatic tissues, considering their properties. Furthermore, this information could be useful for research on the toxicology of chemicals in embryos and iPSC-derived stress-related disease models, such as neurodegenerative diseases and ischemic heart diseases.
For this Special Issue, we invite original research articles and reviews on the following subjects: (1) differences in levels, duration, and kinetics of responses to environmental stimuli, stresses, and chemicals between stem cells and non-stem cells; (2) the molecular mechanisms underlying responses to any stresses in stem cells, including pluripotent, multipotent, and cancer stem cells; (3) the implication of stress responses in their stemness and differentiation; (4) iPSC-derived stress-related disease models and stress response disorders; (5) chemical or environmental toxicology in embryos and embryonic stem cells.
Dr. Taku Kaitsuka
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- stem cells
- stress response
- differentiation
- heat stress
- hypoxic stress
- oxidative stress
- mechanical stress
- proteotoxic stress
- membrane protein
- stress-inducible transcription factor
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