Oct. 7, 2011 Investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital
(MGH) Center for Regenerative Medicine and the Harvard Stem Cell
Institute (HSCI) have found that Sox2 -- one of the
transcription factors used in the conversion of adult stem cells
into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) -- is expressed in
many adult tissues where it had not been previously observed.
They also confirmed that Sox2-expressing cells found in the
stomach, testes, cervix and other structures are true adult stem
cells that can give rise to all mature cell types in those
tissues. The study appears in the October issue of Cell Stem
Cell. "We have known that Sox2 is essential for maintaining
pluripotency in embryonic stem cells and neural stem cells and,
with three other embryonic genes, is sufficient to convert adult
cells into iPSCs," says Konrad Hochedlinger, PhD, of the MGH
Center for Regenerative Medicine and HSCI, who led the study.
"Our study shows that Sox2 is a much more widespread marker of
adult stem cells and suggests th