However, a number of technical hurdles must be overcome before therapies based on pluripotent human stem cells can enter the clinic.
Indeed, it is interesting that the results of ENCODE, which found so much biochemical activity across the genome, were based mostly on pluripotent stem cells and cancer cells [ 7], which are known to have unusual genetic activity [ 7]; according to some, the latter behave in several ways like germ cells, and especially like sperm [ 218, 219].
If scientists can get the procedure to work in people, it could quickly overcome regulatory hurdles that have held up the development of therapies based on induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.
In order to speed up the development processes, we argue strongly in favor of cross-disciplinary collaborative efforts which have many advantages, especially in a relatively new field such as regenerative medicine based on human pluripotent stem cells.
A newly advanced organoid technology makes it possible to create three-dimensional in vitro models of brain development and structural interconnectivity, based on induced pluripotent stem cells derived from the respective individuals.
Therefore, in vitro models based on human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have become an attractive alternative.
Indeed, most experiments on pluripotent stem cells are performed on cultured cells, and experimental settings may differ.
However, whether FGF4 exhibits the same activity on pluripotent stem cell-derived endoderm in vitro remains unknown.
The functionally related experiments on pluripotent stem cells (iPS and hES) clustered together as expected.
In our recent preclinical in vitro analysis, ALA restores defects in ALAS2 deficiency based on human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell-derived erythroblasts [ 22].
