An Overview of Direct Somatic Reprogramming: The Ins and Outs of iPSCs (Review )

Siddharth Menon, Siny Shailendra, Andrea Renda, Michael Longaker and Natalina Quarto; Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2016, 17(1), 141; doi:10.3390/ijms17010141 (OPEN ACCESS)

Current techniques produce disease phenotypes, however, the extent of recapitulating all aspects of the disease is still limited. Overall, the vast potential of iPSCs in cell-based therapeutics, drug discovery and disease modeling is clear, though significantly hindered by the lack of understanding of the long-term risks. Until more is understood about the mechanisms of induced pluripotency and differentiation, and the development of extensive screening procedures for genetic aberrations resulting in stable genomes, the use of iPSCs technology remains inadequate for most translational medicine and clinical applications.