Pluripotent stem cells are unique candidates for regenerative medicine owing to their differential
and self renewal capabilities. With the rapid development of stem cell differentiation methodologies, a
number of functional cell types have already been generated, though replacement of damaged or diseased
cells/tissues/organs remains an exciting and challenging task. The most common pluripotent cell type are
embryonic stem cells (ESCs), however in recent years, several pluripotent cell types have been emerged –
nuclear transfer ESCs and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Both of these cell types were generated
for therapeutic cloning, hence facilitating the transition from lab bench to patients. However, before clinical
implementation of pluripotent stem cell based therapies, it must firstly pass several tests that evaluate the
long-term safety, with respect to genetic stability. Both nuclear transfer ESCs and iPSCs share many
common features but due to their different origins, exhibit slight differences at the epigenomic and
transcriptomic levels. This chapter attempts to elucidate some of the many differences that occur at each of
the genomic, epigenomic and transcriptomic levels.
Keywords: Differentiation, induced pluripotent stem cells, epigenome, transcriptome, DNA methylation,
histone modification, nuclear transfer.
