Max-Planck-Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany.
Stem Cell Rev Rep. 2012 Mar;8(1):78-86. doi: 10.1007/s12015-011-9294-y.
Adult stem cells are an important source for the regeneration of damaged body parts. Unlike fish and amphibians, the regeneration capacity of human tissues is rather limited. Therefore, one might ask for reasons that led to the loss of regenerative capacity during evolution. Although intensive efforts have been made, we still cannot answer this question definitively. Recent advances in so-called "-omics" (e.g. transcriptomics, proteomics) technologies allowed researchers to obtain detailed views of both mRNA and protein expression levels at different time points during regeneration and tissue repair. It is now possible to make a series of snap shots to characterize stem cell activities at various stages. Recent findings have revealed an enormous plasticity of different cell types reaffirming the landscape model of cell differentiation. Apparently, differentiation of stem cells into a certain lineage is not a fixed process but rather a delicate balance, in which different signaling pathways are involved. To understand this balance, it is utmost importance to profile and catalog changes that occur during the differentiation process of stem cells both at mRNA and protein levels. In this review, we survey the impact of expression profiling on stem cell research with a particular emphasis on non-coding RNAs.
成体干细胞是受损身体部位再生的重要来源。与鱼类和两栖类不同，人类组织的再生能力相当有限。因此，人们可能会问，在进化过程中导致再生能力丧失的原因是什么。尽管已经做出了大量努力，但我们仍然无法明确回答这个问题。最近在所谓的“组学”（如转录组学、蛋白质组学）技术方面的进展，使研究人员能够在再生和组织修复过程的不同时间点获得关于 mRNA 和蛋白质表达水平的详细信息。现在可以进行一系列快照来描述不同阶段的干细胞活性。最近的发现揭示了不同细胞类型的巨大可塑性，再次证实了细胞分化的景观模型。显然，干细胞向特定谱系的分化不是一个固定的过程，而是一个微妙的平衡，其中涉及不同的信号通路。为了理解这种平衡，在 mRNA 和蛋白质水平上对干细胞分化过程中发生的变化进行分析和编目是非常重要的。在这篇综述中，我们调查了表达谱分析对干细胞研究的影响，特别强调了非编码 RNA。
