Results from at least 20 independent laboratories indicate that adult tissues contain rare, early-development stem cells known as very small embryonic-like stem cells (VSELs), which can differentiate into cells from more than one germ layer. Further research on these cells may provide a path forward to application of these cells in regenerative medicine that perhaps may solve several problems inherent in the use of controversial embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and somehow problematic induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).
Keywords: adult; embryonic stem cells; germ layers; pluripotent stem cells; teratoma.