Adult stem cell therapies have provided success for more than 50 years, through reconstitution of the hematopoietic system using bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, and mobilized peripheral blood transplantation. Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-mediated therapy is a fast-growing field that has proven safe and effective in the treatment of various degenerative diseases and tissue injuries. Since the first derivation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), there has been impressive progress toward developing safe clinical applications from PSCs. Recent successes in transgene-free iPSC reprogramming have brought attention to the potential of clinical applications of these pluripotent cells, but key hurdles must be overcome, which are discussed in this review. Looking to the future, it could be advantageous to derive MSC from iPSC or human ESC in cases where genetic engineering is needed, since in the PSCs, clones with "safe harbor" vector integration could be selected, expanded, and differentiated. Here, we describe the status of the progress of the use of MSC and PSCs in clinical trials and analyze the challenges that should be overcome before iPSC-derived MSC therapy can be used widely in the clinic.
Copyright © 2011 AlphaMed Press.