Veterinary applications of induced pluripotent stem cells: Regenerative medicine and models for disease?

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can now be derived from a tissue biopsy and represent a promising new platform for disease modelling, drug and toxicity testing, biomarker development and cell-based therapies for regenerative medicine. In regenerative medicine, large animals may represent the best models for man, and thereby provide invaluable systems in which to test the safety and the potential of iPSCs. Hence, testing iPSCs in veterinary species may serve a double function, namely, developing therapeutic products for regenerative medicine in veterinary patients while providing valuable background information for human clinical trials.

The production of iPSCs from livestock or wild species is attractive because it could improve efficiency and reduce costs in various fields, such as transgenic animal generation and drug development, preservation of biological diversity, and because it also offers an alternative to xenotransplantation for in vivo generation of organs. Although the technology of cellular reprogramming using the so-called ‘Yamanaka factors’ is in its peak expectation phase and many concerns still need to be addressed, the rapid technical progress suggests that iPSCs could contribute significantly to novel therapies in veterinary and biomedical practice in the near future. This review provides an overview of the potential applications of iPSCs in veterinary medicine.