Regenerative therapy for post-stroke patients

Cell replacement therapy is attractive as a novel strategy for stroke patients. To realize this therapy, safer and more effective cell resources are now required. Since both embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can retain high replication competence and pluripotency when they differentiate into various kinds of cells, they are regarded as a promising cell source for cell replacement therapy. Recent progress includes the combination of novel transcriptional factors that can convert somatic cells to various kinds of mature neuronal cells and neural stem cells without requiring embryonic stem fate. In this paper, we would like to discuss the advantage, issues, and possibility of clinical application of these cells for cell replacement therapy for post-stroke patient.