Open AccessConcise Review: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Research in the Era of Precision Medicine
Author(s) -
Hamazaki Takashi,
El Rouby Nihal,
Fredette Natalie C.,
Santostefano Katherine E.,
Terada Naohiro
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
stem cells
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.159
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1549-4918
pISSN - 1066-5099
DOI - 10.1002/stem.2570
Subject(s) - induced pluripotent stem cell , biology , precision medicine , disease , computational biology , phenotype , personalized medicine , genome wide association study , genome editing , genome , genetic association , human genome , human genetics , genetics , single nucleotide polymorphism , bioinformatics , genotype , gene , embryonic stem cell , medicine , pathology
Abstract Recent advances in DNA sequencing technologies are revealing how human genetic variations associate with differential health risks, disease susceptibilities, and drug responses. Such information is now expected to help evaluate individual health risks, design personalized health plans and treat patients with precision. It is still challenging, however, to understand how such genetic variations cause the phenotypic alterations in pathobiologies and treatment response. Human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technologies are emerging as a promising strategy to fill the knowledge gaps between genetic association studies and underlying molecular mechanisms. Breakthroughs in genome editing technologies and continuous improvement in iPSC differentiation techniques are particularly making this research direction more realistic and practical. Pioneering studies have shown that iPSCs derived from a variety of monogenic diseases can faithfully recapitulate disease phenotypes in vitro when differentiated into disease‐relevant cell types. It has been shown possible to partially recapitulate disease phenotypes, even with late onset and polygenic diseases. More recently, iPSCs have been shown to validate effects of disease and treatment‐related single nucleotide polymorphisms identified through genome wide association analysis. In this review, we will discuss how iPSC research will further contribute to human health in the coming era of precision medicine. S tem C ells 2017;35:545–550