iPS細胞を用いた臨床応用の基礎と課題

In 2006, the iPS cells have come out in the world. When calling the "pluripotent stem cell" till then, it was an embryonic stem cell, but there were two issues that should be conquered on using an embryonic stem cell. One is an ethical problem and another is rejection. The "new hero iPS cell" showed overwhelming predominancy on these problems. By establishing innovative stem cell technology prior to the world, aiming at its utilization in regeneration medicine is advocated as an important research mission of the life science field in our country. In that meaning, the iPS cell development attracts much attention.
However, we have still many problems to be solved, such as prevention of iPS cell-derived carcinogenesis, improvement of establishing efficiency of iPS cell, selection of iPS cell source from tissues, establishment of the differentiation inducing method, purifying method of induced cells from iPS cells and its improvement of the purity in induced cell fraction.
Here, I would like to summarize the contents of an educational lecture performed at the 39th Annual Meeting of Shikoku Society of Dental Research, and to describe the present status and perspectives about iPS cell-mediated regeneration medicine, especially the possibility and the subject of our research trial aimed at tooth regeneration.