Department of Chemistry and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2011 Jan 3;50(1):200-42. doi: 10.1002/anie.201004284.
Potential applications of stem cells in medicine range from their inclusion in disease modeling and drug discovery to cell transplantation and regenerative therapies. However, before this promise can be realized several obstacles must be overcome, including the control of stem cell differentiation, allogeneic rejection and limited cell availability. This will require an improved understanding of the mechanisms that govern stem cell potential and the development of robust methods to efficiently control their fate. Recently, a number of small molecules have been identified that can be used both in vitro and in vivo as tools to expand stem cells, direct their differentiation, or reprogram somatic cells to a more naive state. These molecules have provided a wealth of insights into the signaling and epigenetic mechanisms that regulate stem cell biology, and are already beginning to contribute to the development of effective treatments for tissue repair and regeneration.
干细胞在医学上的潜在应用范围从疾病建模和药物发现到细胞移植和再生疗法。然而，在这一承诺成为现实之前，必须克服几个障碍，包括控制干细胞分化、同种异体排斥和有限的细胞可用性。这将需要深入了解控制干细胞潜能的机制，并开发出有效控制其命运的强大方法。最近，已经鉴定出一些小分子，这些小分子可以在体外和体内用作工具来扩增干细胞，指导其分化，或重编程体细胞使其回到更原始的状态。这些分子为调节干细胞生物学的信号和表观遗传机制提供了丰富的见解，并且已经开始为组织修复和再生的有效治疗方法的发展做出贡献。
