Stem cell therapy

Question 1

What are embryonic stem cells?

Answer 1

Pluripotent cells from the ICM that can be induced to become anything

Question 2

What is a totipotent cell?

Answer 2

A cell that hasn’t been specified at all and can be directed to be anything

Question 3

What is a pluripotent cell?

Answer 3

Don’t have all the potential, but can still become just about anything (like cells from the ICM)

Question 4

What is a multipotent cell?

Answer 4

Cells that are a little more specified, but can become anything in a particular cell line (like radial glial cells)

Question 5

Why don’t we use embryonic stem cells for therapy?

Answer 5

Ethics

Question 6

What do we use for stem cell therapy instead of embryonic stem cells?

Answer 6

Induced pluripotent stem cells

Question 7

What are induced pluripotent stem cells?

Answer 7

Cells from an adult organism that have been induced to turn back into embryonic stem cells

Question 8

What are the 4 transcription factors that you need to add to a cell culture of adult cells to turn them back into embryonic stem cells?

Answer 8

Sox2, Oct4, Klf4, c-Myc

Question 9

How do you do stem cell therapy with induced pluripotent stem cells?

Answer 9

Harvest adult cells and turn them back into embryonic stem cells with Sox2, Oct4, Klf4, and c-Myc. Use genetic targeting to correct the mutation causing the disease, then grow those cells in culture and induce them to become the type of tissue that is needed. Then irradiate the patient to kill off their cells with the mutation and replace them with the fixed stem cells

Question 10

How do we generate organoids with stem cells?

Answer 10

Take an organ we want, digest all the cells off so only the protein scaffold framework is left, then grow the induced pluripotent stem cells on that