Small Molecule-Mediated Cellular Reprogramming and Differentiation
A special issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 8661
Special Issue Editor
Interests: stem cells; cellular reprogramming; regenerative medicine
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Transplantation of therapeutic cells holds tremendous promise for patients with organ failure. An inherent need of this approach is easily accessible and readily expandable cell sources that can provide desirable properties required for a given disease, i.e., tissue regeneration or paracrine actions. Stem cells are an attractive tool which possesses the features uniquely suited for regenerative medicine. During the past decade, substantial advances have been achieved in differentiating human pluripotent stem cells, including embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), into specific lineage cells; however, these approaches raise the potential risk of tumor formation and there are ethical concerns surrounding them, which restrict their clinical applications. Alternatively, direct/indirect reprogramming of a functional cell type into another lineage, bypassing the pluripotent stage, could provide powerful benefits for regenerative medicine applications in a tissue- and patient-specific manner. Nevertheless, the risk of transgene integration and unsafety of using transcription factors or viral transduction vectors must be addressed before clinical trials are conducted. In this context, recent progress indicates that small molecules can convert one specialized cell type into another, alone or in combination with only a few transcription factors, and dramatically improve the efficiency of reprogramming. Small molecule-mediated cellular reprogramming and differentiation could be much safer and more effective compared to other approaches, employing transcription factors, RNAs and proteins.
The aim of this Special Issue is to publish original research articles in small molecule-mediated cellular reprogramming and differentiation. Review articles critically and systematically covering the related researches, providing concluding remarks and future outlook in the field and highlighting their broad applicability in cellular reprogramming and regenerative medicine strategies into clinical applications will be considered for inclusion in this Special Issue.
Prof. Dr. Seungkwon You
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- small molecules
- stem cells
- cellular reprogramming
- direct conversion
- regenerative medicine
- trans-differentiation
- stem cell therapy
- cell transplantation
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