Natural and Synthetic Materials for Self-Renewal, Long-Term Maintenance, and Differentiation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

• Published in: Advanced healthcare materials 2015-11, Vol.4 (16), p.2342-2359
• Main Authors: Dzhoyashvili, Nina A., Shen, Sanbing, Rochev, Yury A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biocompatible Materials - pharmacology; Biomaterials; Biomedical materials; Cell Differentiation - drug effects; Cell Self Renewal - drug effects; Cellular Microenvironment - drug effects; Culture; Differentiation; Humans; In vitro testing; induced pluripotent stem cells; Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells - cytology; Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells - drug effects; Maintenance; self-renewal; Stem cells; Surgical implants; Tissue Engineering
• ISSN: 2192-2640; 2192-2659
• DOI: 10.1002/adhm.201400798

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have attracted considerable attention from the public, clinicians, and scientists since their discovery in 2006, and raised huge expectations for regenerative medicine. One of the distinctive features of iPSCs is their propensity to differentiate into the cells of three germ lines in vitro and in vivo. The human iPSCs can be used to study the mechanisms underlying a disease and to monitor the disease progression, for testing drugs in vitro, and for cell therapy, avoiding many ethical and immunologic concerns. This technology offers the potential to take an individual approach to each patient and allows a more accurate diagnosis and specific treatment. However, there are several obstacles that impede the use of iPSCs. The derivation of fully reprogrammed iPSCs is expensive, time‐consuming, and demands meticulous attention to many details. The use of biomaterials could increase the efficacy and safety while decreasing the cost of tissue engineering. The choice of a substrate utilized for iPSC culture is also important because cell‐substrate contacts influence cellular behavior such as self‐renewal, expansion, and differentiation. This Progress Report aims to summarize the advantages and drawbacks of natural and synthetic biomaterials, and to evaluate their role for maintenance and differentiation of iPSCs. A wide variety of natural and synthetic biomaterials with well‐known biophysical properties provides a microenvironment for self‐renewal, long‐term maintenance, and differentiation of iPSCs. This Progress Report summarizes recent results on iPSC culture using 2D and 3D biomaterial‐based platforms and discusses mechanisms regulating iPSC‐biomaterial interaction. This information should be interesting to many professionals in the field of basic research and tissue engineering.