Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Jul 26, 2020; 12(7): 527-544
Published online Jul 26, 2020. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v12.i7.527
Potential of transposon-mediated cellular reprogramming towards cell-based therapies
Dharmendra Kumar, Taruna Anand, Thirumala R Talluri, Wilfried A Kues
Dharmendra Kumar, Animal Physiology and Reproduction Division, ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Hisar 125001, India
Taruna Anand, NCVTC, ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines, Hisar 125001, India
Thirumala R Talluri, Equine Production Campus, ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines, Bikaner 334001, India
Wilfried A Kues, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Institute of Farm Animal Genetics, Department of Biotechnology, Mariensee 31535, Germany
Author contributions: Kumar D and Kues WA drafted and wrote the review; Anand T and Talluri TR designed the figures and contributed specific chapters; all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declared there is no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Dharmendra Kumar, PhD, Senior Scientist, Animal Physiology and Reproduction Division, ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Hisar 125001, India. dharmendra.kumar@icar.gov.in
Received: February 26, 2020
Peer-review started: February 26, 2020
First decision: April 26, 2020
Revised: May 9, 2020
Accepted: May 28, 2020
Article in press: May 28, 2020
Published online: July 26, 2020
Processing time: 150 Days and 20.5 Hours
Abstract

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells present a seminal discovery in cell biology and promise to support innovative treatments of so far incurable diseases. To translate iPS technology into clinical trials, the safety and stability of these reprogrammed cells needs to be shown. In recent years, different non-viral transposon systems have been developed for the induction of cellular pluripotency, and for the directed differentiation into desired cell types. In this review, we summarize the current state of the art of different transposon systems in iPS-based cell therapies.

Keywords: Transposons; Induced pluripotent stem cells; Clinical applications; Cellular reprogramming; Cell-based therapy; Genetic correction

Core tip: The seminal discovery of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells has opened up the possibility of converting most somatic cell types into a pluripotent state. The iPS cells possess most of the advantages of embryonic stem cells without the ethical stigma associated with derivation of the latter. This procedure has had a large impact on the generation of custom-made pluripotent cells, ideal for cell-type specific differentiation and regenerative medicine with or without genetic correction. In this review, we focus on updated information of transposon system-mediated cellular reprogramming to iPS cells and their application in cellular therapy.