Signaling pathways involved in the maintenance of human embryonic stem cells

Abstract

Human Embryonic Stem Cells (hESC) are pluripotent cells derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst that hold great promises for use in regenerative medicine. The culture conditions used to maintain hESC undifferentiated were first based on the presence of a feeder layer of Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts (MEF) in a fetal calf serum-containing medium. Due to the presence of unknown animal products, hESC grown in these conditions cannot be used for therapeutics. Moreover, these conditions are not optimal for defining the intracellular mechanisms involved in hESC self-renewal. Much effort has been made in defining new feeder-free and serum-free culture conditions for hESC and different prot..