Yamanaka Factors and Partial Cellular Reprogramming
The most intriguing finding from Yamanaka factors is that it can reverse aging in human skin cells by 30 years . Too good to be true? In 2006, a study by Drs. Kazutoshi and Shinya Yamanaka showed that it was possible to reprogram cells using just four master genes named Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc, or OSKM for short [ R ]. These four reprogramming factors are often called the Yamanaka factors after one of their discoverers. Prior to this, it was assumed that egg cells (oocytes) would contain a complex array of factors needed to reprogram a somatic cell into becoming an embryonic cell. After all, the feat of transforming an aged egg cell and reprogramming it to make a new animal must be controlled by many factors present in the egg cell, or so they thought. Takahashi and Yamanaka turned this idea upside down when they showed that just four of the Yamanaka factors were needed to achieve this transformation. They used the Yamanaka factors to reprogram adult mouse fibroblasts (...