Pluripotent stem cell-based cell therapies: Current applications and future prospects

Recently, there has been a major uptick in the research and clinical development of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs). This is due to human PSC's unique properties of unlimited selfrenewal and their potential to differentiate into cell types representative of all three germ layers. Although human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have shown clinical benefits, widespread adoption will be limited because they need to be derived from human embryos. Instead, the use of iPSCs can avoid this ethical issue by converting somatic cells back into the pluripotent stage. Compared to the costly autologous iPSC-based cell therapy, the application of allogeneic iPSCs in cell therapy is showing considerable promise. To reduce the immune rejection associated with allogeneic transplantation, researchers have explored the use of MHC matching or inactivating some key MHC genes to generate hypoimmunogenic iPSCs. These "universal" iPSCs provide the unique potential to produce various types of functional cells to treat a multitude of human diseases.