Cell Biology, Life Sciences Solutions, Thermo Fisher Scientific, 5781 Van Allen Way, Carlsbad, CA, 92008, USA.
Stem Cell Rev Rep. 2015 Apr;11(2):357-72. doi: 10.1007/s12015-014-9580-6.
Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) are powerful tools for basic scientific research and promising agents for drug discovery and regenerative medicine. Technological advances have made it increasingly easy to generate PSCs but the various lines generated may differ in their characteristics based on their origin, derivation, number of passages, and culture conditions. In order to confirm the pluripotency, quality, identity, and safety of pluripotent cell lines as they are derived and maintained, it is critical to perform a panel of characterization assays. Functional pluripotency is determined using tests that rely on the expression of specific markers in the undifferentiated and differentiated states; tests for quality, identity and safety are less specialized. This article provides a comprehensive review of current practices in PSC characterization and explores challenges in the field, from the selection of markers to the development of simple and scalable methods. It also delves into emerging trends like the adoption of alternative assays that could be used to supplement or replace traditional methods, specifically the use of in silico assays for determining pluripotency.
多能干细胞（PSCs）是基础科学研究的有力工具，也是药物发现和再生医学有前途的药物。技术进步使得生成 PSCs 变得越来越容易，但由于其起源、衍生、传代数和培养条件的不同，各种生成的细胞系在特性上可能存在差异。为了确认多能细胞系在衍生和维持过程中的多能性、质量、身份和安全性，进行一系列特征分析是至关重要的。功能多能性是通过依赖于未分化和分化状态下特定标记物表达的测试来确定的；质量、身份和安全性测试则不那么专门化。本文全面综述了 PSC 特征分析的当前实践，并探讨了该领域的挑战，从标记物的选择到简单和可扩展方法的开发。它还深入探讨了新兴趋势，如替代测试的采用，这些测试可以补充或替代传统方法，特别是使用计算机模拟测试来确定多能性。
