Nanog and pluripotency

In August 2009 Cell journal published an important article about the role of Nanog in pluripotency. Silva and colleagues showed that Nanog played a crucial role in development of pluripotency in mice. Indeed, they generated a KO mouse for nanog gene and they observed a block in reprogramming cells to achieve the full pluripotency; Nanog re-expression allowed the complete restoration of the reprogramming process indicating the central role of this protein in the acquisition of pluripotency.

Researchers were not able to obtain embryonic stem cell culture from nanog null mice because the embryos didn’t form the inner cell mass and so the pluripotent compartment. Molecular explanation of the role of Nanog is probably related to the signalling pathway that involves also Oct4, it seems that Nanog is important to sustain that pathway by inducing a self maintenance of the system. Nanog is also important for the reactivation of chromosome X, another crucial step to reach the pluripotency. This work increases our knowledge to obtain the induction of pluripotency in vitro: this goal is crucial for instance for many applications of regenerative medicine. Defining the factors that control, start and maintain pluripotency will help us to obtain safer and better induced pluripotent stem cell cultures.