Human pluripotent stem cells: a progress report

The derivation of diploid human pluripotent stem cell lines from either hum an blastocysts or embryonic gonads in 1998 attracted a great deal of intere st because of the widespread potential applications of these cells in resea rch and in regenerative medicine. Since the initial reports, there has been some progress in the characterisation of blastocyst-derived stem cells, an d some technical advances in their manipulation. Conditions for differentia tion in vitro of pluripotent stem cells from either blastocysts or gonads h ave been defined. In some studies, committed progenitor cell populations ha ve been isolated from mixed cultures of differentiating ES cells.