Hope for regenerative treatments: toward safe transplantation of human pluripotent stem-cell-based therapies

Open Access Editorial by Robert Lanza and Erin A Kimbrel (Ocata Therapeutics, Santa Monica, CA, USA), on the immediate future of human pluripotent stem-cell-based therapies. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) could help treat a wide variety of diseases as a cell-based therapy, but tumorigenesis and immunogenicity are potential safety risks, and technical hurdles in directing their in vitro differentiation have thwarted efforts to bring iPSC-based therapies to the clinic. ESCs have similar safety issues, as well as the ethical concern over use of embryonic tissue. The below article discusses the status of PSC-based therapies in regenerative medicine, including safety considerations,...