Reprogramming of mouse and human somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells has been possible with retroviral expression of the pluripotency-associated transcription factors Oct4, Sox2, Nanog, and Lin28 as well as Klf4 and c-Myc. iPS cells hold great potential as a model for diseases from the perspective of the individual patient and as an alternative source of pluripotent stem cells for therapeutic applications. In this chapter, we discuss how the use of retroviruses as well as other expression vectors, protein transduction, and small molecules can effectively and efficiently induce pluripotent stem cells from a variety of mouse and human starting somatic cell populations.
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