Decoding Cancer Etiology With Cellular Reprogramming

Authors

Mo-Fan Huang
Megan E Fisher
Trinh T T Phan
Ruiying Zhao
Dung-Fang Lee

Language

English

Publication Date

2-1-2025

Journal

Current Opinion in Genetics & Development

DOI

10.1016/j.gde.2024.102301

PMID

39721322

PMCID

PMC11830421

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

2-1-2026

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Author MSS

Abstract

Cancer research remains clinically unmet in many areas due to limited access to patient samples and the lack of reliable model systems that truly reflect human cancer biology. The emergence of patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells and engineered human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) has helped overcome these challenges, offering a versatile alternative platform for advancing cancer research. These hPSCs are already proving to be valuable models for studying specific cancer driver mutations, offering insights into cancer origins, pathogenesis, tumor heterogeneity, clonal evolution, and facilitating drug discovery and testing. This article reviews recent progress in utilizing hPSCs for clinically relevant cancer models and highlights efforts to deepen our understanding of fundamental cancer biology.

Keywords

Humans, Cellular Reprogramming, Neoplasms, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Mutation, Pluripotent Stem Cells, human pluripotent stem cells, cancer disease modeling, genome editing, cell-of-origin of cancer, organoid

Published Open-Access

yes

Recommended Citation

Huang, Mo-Fan; Fisher, Megan E; Phan, Trinh T T; et al., "Decoding Cancer Etiology With Cellular Reprogramming" (2025). Faculty, Staff and Student Publications. 4687.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/uthgsbs_docs/4687