Advances in direct reprogramming and its future clinical application using a protein-based cell engineering system

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Author Info

Tomoki Takashina Yukihito Ishizaka

Corresponding Author

Yukihito Ishizaka
Department of Intractable Diseases, National Center for Global health and Medicine, Toyama, 1-21-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-8655, Japan

A B S T R A C T

Direct reprogramming is a promising technology in regenerative medicine. However, there is no report on the clinical applications of cells prepared by direct reprogramming. In the current review, we describe direct reprogramming methods of somatic cells to hepatocytes, pancreatic -cells, cardiomyocytes, and endothelial cells. Next, we discuss current issues that should be clarified for their future clinical applications. As the most critical issue, it is necessary to establish a vector-free system for cellular engineering, because most studies on direct reprogramming have been performed using viral vectors or plasmid DNA. We recently developed a protein-based cell engineering system, in which a newly identified cell penetrating peptide (NTP) was combined with an artificial transcription factor system (NTP-ATF). By using NTP-ATF, endogenous gene expression can be induced by exogenous recombinant proteins. Here, we briefly introduce the NTP-ATF system and discuss its future applications by combining chemical compounds that are competent for the induction of differentiation. We also propose that the NTP-ATF system can be utilized for expansion of somatic cells, which is another issue for cell therapy using somatic cells.

Article Info

Article Type

Research Article

Publication history

Received: Mon 25, Jun 2018
Accepted: Mon 09, Jul 2018
Published: Mon 16, Jul 2018

Copyright

© 2023 Yukihito Ishizaka. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.RGM.2018.02.005