Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are considered to be an alternative to embryonic stem cells (ESCs) with a wide range of clinical potential and free of ethic limitations of embryonic material usage [1]. iPS cells are derived from somatic cells when introducing so-called pluripotency factors (some genes or their products whose activity is specific for embryonic stem cells). Besides, pluripotency induction in somatic cells derived from different patients is a powerful tool for scientists to investigate a number of diseases with suboptimally studied pathogenesis...

— Mr. Macchiarini, the audience of our journal is interested to know how your first patient is feeling now and if she could manage to return to a normal life.

— Our first patient was a woman. In 6 months after the operation she went back to work and now she is working as usual. She is our colleague — she is a nurse in a dental clinic. She takes...

eneration of pluripotency in somatic cells became possible three years ago, when Japanese scientists S.Yamanaka and K.Takahashi described pluripotent cells derived from mouse fibroblast cells as a result of retroviral transfection of four genes - Oct4, Klf4, Sox2 and c-Myc (OKSM) and called them induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). For generation of pluripotency in somatic cells initiating the expression of ‘pluripotent’ self-genes - Oct4, Sox2 and Nanog is the principal event. Being transcription factors the products of these genes are *bound to/ attached to target genes inhibiting the expression of linear-specific genes and activating the expression of the genes responsible for maintaining cell pluripotency and self-renewal. Moreover, employing the positive feedback mechanism these transcription factors maintain the stable expression level of each other. It was these peculiarities that enabled S. Yamanaka and Takahashi to generate pluripotency in somatic cells due to temporal expression of OKSM exogenous genes that were inserted into cell nuclei by means of virus- mediated transduction...

According to the concept of malignant stem cells (MSC) there is a subpopulation of malignant initiating cells in tumors. These cells are capable not only to self-reproduction and formation of more completely differentiated malignant cells but are often significantly resistant to therapy. Resistance to cytotoxic therapy can be due to, in particular, low proliferative activity of MSCs, that has been proved for a number of hematological neoplasms. Moreover, MSCs can possess more advanced reparation of DNA damage, as it occurs in some glioma types. Also these cells may have a higher level of antioxidant defense that was observed in breast cancer. In an article published in a January issue of Cancer Research Marcus H. Frank and colleagues demonstrated malignant melanoma stem cells to possess the capacity in the evasion of antitumor immunity...

Hereditary X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is a lethal demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) caused by mutations in the ABCD1 gene, coding the ALDP protein-transporter, localized in peroxisome membranes. In peroxisomes of oligodendrocytes and microglial cells the protein takes part in transport of esters of long-chain fatty acids (LCFA; more than 22 carbon atoms in an aliphatic “tail”), what is necessary for myelinization of nerve fibers. As a result of mutation, a multifocal demyelinating process develops, leading to a patient’s death as early as in the adolescent age, as a rule...

One the main trends of the stem cell biology is the research of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC), which were first obtained in 2007. Nowadays the possibility to differentiate hiPSC in vitro into many specific cell types, such as cardiomyocytes, hepatocytes, retinal epithelium and others has been demonstrated. These studies are of great importance for regenerative medicine, as they make it possible to elude the whole range of technical difficulties and ethical problems related to obtaining and usage of patient- specific lines of embryonic stem cells. Nevertheless, hiPSC are not sufficiently studied, and in particular, at the moment there are no comprehensive data concerning the comparison of the differentiation potential of hiPSC and human embryonic stem cells (hESC)...