美國(guó)斯坦福大學(xué)研究人員7日說,，與皮膚成纖維細(xì)胞相比,，脂肪干細(xì)胞更容易轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)槿斯ふT導(dǎo)多能干細(xì)胞（iPS細(xì)胞），而且所轉(zhuǎn)變的iPS細(xì)胞安全性更高,，將來有望利用脂肪干細(xì)胞培育人體所需的各種器官,。
iPS細(xì)胞是指體細(xì)胞經(jīng)過基因“重新編排”,，回歸到胚胎干細(xì)胞的狀態(tài)，從而具有類似胚胎干細(xì)胞的分化能力,。培育iPS細(xì)胞涉及4種轉(zhuǎn)錄因子（Oct4,、Sox2、Klf4和c－Myc）的表達(dá),，而在皮膚成纖維細(xì)胞中,，這4種轉(zhuǎn)錄因子基本不表達(dá)或表達(dá)水平很低。
斯坦福大學(xué)研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn),，脂肪干細(xì)胞內(nèi)兩種轉(zhuǎn)錄因子的表達(dá)水平高于皮膚成纖維細(xì)胞,，這表明，在初始狀態(tài)下,，脂肪干細(xì)胞更容易被誘導(dǎo),。
研究人員在脂肪干細(xì)胞和皮膚成纖維細(xì)胞中分別加入能夠編碼4種轉(zhuǎn)錄因子的基因后，約有萬分之一的皮膚成纖維細(xì)胞轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)閕PS細(xì)胞,，而轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)閕PS細(xì)胞的脂肪干細(xì)胞比例達(dá)到千分之二,，是前者的20倍。利用脂肪干細(xì)胞培育的iPS細(xì)胞也通過了有關(guān)測(cè)試,，它們能夠分化成人體內(nèi)的神經(jīng)細(xì)胞,、肌肉細(xì)胞以及腸上皮細(xì)胞等。
此外,，利用脂肪干細(xì)胞培養(yǎng)iPS細(xì)胞不需要飼養(yǎng)細(xì)胞,，這無疑提高了其安全性。所謂飼養(yǎng)細(xì)胞,，是指在體外的細(xì)胞培養(yǎng)中,，單個(gè)或少量的細(xì)胞不易生存與繁殖，必須加入其他活細(xì)胞才能使其快速繁殖,，加入的細(xì)胞即為飼養(yǎng)細(xì)胞,。
這項(xiàng)研究成果7日刊登在新一期美國(guó)《國(guó)家科學(xué)院學(xué)報(bào)》上。負(fù)責(zé)這項(xiàng)研究的斯坦福大學(xué)干細(xì)胞生物學(xué)和再生醫(yī)學(xué)研究所副主任邁克爾·隆加克爾說,，脂肪干細(xì)胞是一種“偉大的自然資源”,，將來有望利用這種細(xì)胞培育人體所需的各種器官。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
PNAS September 8, 2009, doi: 10.1073/pnas.0908450106
Feeder-free derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells from adult human adipose stem cells
Ning Suna, Nicholas J. Panettab, Deepak M. Guptab, Kitchener D. Wilsona, Andrew Leea, Fangjun Jiaa, Shijun Hua, Athena M. Cherryc, Robert C. Robbinsd,e, Michael T. Longakerb,f,1 and Joseph C. Wua,e,g,1
aDepartment of Radiology,
bDivision of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery,
cDepartment of Pathology,
dDepartment of Cardiothoracic Surgery,
eCardiovascular Institute of Medicine,
fInstitute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, and
gDepartment of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
Ectopic expression of transcription factors can reprogram somatic cells to a pluripotent state. However, most of the studies used skin fibroblasts as the starting population for reprogramming, which usually take weeks for expansion from a single biopsy. We show here that induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be generated from adult human adipose stem cells (hASCs) freshly isolated from patients. Furthermore, iPS cells can be readily derived from adult hASCs in a feeder-free condition, thereby eliminating potential variability caused by using feeder cells. hASCs can be safely and readily isolated from adult humans in large quantities without extended time for expansion, are easy to maintain in culture, and therefore represent an ideal autologous source of cells for generating individual-specific iPS cells.
