Cellules souches embryonnaires et applications thérapeutiques

Pluripotent stem cells display unlimited ability to divide and the capacity to generate (under specific conditions) any specialized and functional cell of an organism. They can be obtained from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst (embryonic stem cell) or by forcing reprogramming upon differentiated cells (induced pluripotent cells - or iPS). Clinical applications of those cells in cell therapies will become increasingly central; validation for neurologic and epidermic pathologies are already initiated. Indeed, the current state of fundamental research allows derivation of functional cell types that is ready to translate into clinics. Despite the numerous steps remaining ahead, we stopped nonetheless to describe it as science fiction but simply a mere middle term delay before entering the bedside.