Chen Hongyu, Zhang Mimi, Zhang Jingzhi, Chen Yapei, Zuo Yabo, Xie Zhishen, Zhou Guanqing, Chen Shehong, Chen Yaoyong
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Key Laboratory for Major Obstetric Diseases of Guangdong Province, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Front Genet. 2022 May 26;13:899831. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.899831. eCollection 2022.
Advances in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) techniques have opened up new perspectives in research on developmental biology. Compared with other sources of human cellular models, iPSCs present a great advantage in hosting the unique genotype background of donors without ethical concerns. A wide spectrum of cellular and organoid models can be generated from iPSCs under appropriate conditions. The pluripotency of iPSCs is orchestrated by external signalling and regulated at the epigenetic, transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. Recent decades have witnessed the progress of studying tissue-specific expressions and functions of microRNAs (miRNAs) using iPSC-derived models. MiRNAs are a class of short non-coding RNAs with regulatory functions in various biological processes during development, including cell migration, proliferation and apoptosis. MiRNAs are key modulators of gene expression and promising candidates for biomarker in development; hence, research on the regulation of human development by miRNAs is expanding. In this review, we summarize the current progress in the application of iPSC-derived models to studies of the regulatory roles of miRNAs in developmental processes.
诱导多能干细胞（iPSC）技术的进步为发育生物学研究开辟了新的视角。与人类细胞模型的其他来源相比，iPSC在承载供体独特的基因型背景方面具有巨大优势，且不存在伦理问题。在适当条件下，可以从iPSC生成广泛的细胞和类器官模型。iPSC的多能性由外部信号调控，并在表观遗传、转录和转录后水平上受到调节。近几十年来，利用iPSC衍生模型研究微小RNA（miRNA）的组织特异性表达和功能取得了进展。miRNA是一类短的非编码RNA，在发育过程中的各种生物学过程中具有调控功能，包括细胞迁移、增殖和凋亡。miRNA是基因表达的关键调节因子，也是发育中生物标志物的有希望的候选者；因此，关于miRNA对人类发育调控的研究正在不断扩展。在本综述中，我们总结了iPSC衍生模型在miRNA对发育过程调控作用研究中的应用现状。
