Induced pluripotent stem cells: opportunities as research and development tools in 21st century drug discovery

Abstract

Pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs), when compared with transformed, primary or engineered cells, have unique characteristics and advantages that have resulted in the development of important cell-based tools in modern drug discovery. However, a key limitation has been the availability of human ESCs from patients with specific medical needs and the broad range of genetic variation represented worldwide. Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are derived from somatic cells that are reprogrammed to a pluripotent stem cell state and have functional characteristics similar to ESCs. The demonstration that human iPS cells can be derived, with relative ease, through the introduction of transcription factor combinations has allowed the generation of disease-specific iPS cell lines. Therefore, iPS cell technology may deliver robust, human pluripotent cell lines from a wide range of clinical phenotypes and genotypes. Although human iPS cell technology is still a new tool in drug discovery, the promise that this technology will impact the discovery of new therapies can be projected based on the uptake of stem cell applications in biopharmaceutical sciences. Here, the near-term opportunities that iPS cells may deliver to drug discoverers to generate and test hypotheses will be discussed, with a focus on the specific strengths and weaknesses of iPS cell technology. Finally, the future perspective will address novel opportunities iPS cells could uniquely deliver to the preclinical development of new drug therapies.