Oral tissues as sources for induced pluripotent stem cell derivation and their applications for neural, craniofacial, and dental tissue regeneration

Craniofacial and dental tissues are unique and contain specialized cell types. The embryonic origins and characteristics of craniofacial bone are different from long bone. Craniofacial tissues are derived from neural crest cells (NCCs). The evidence has shown that MSCs derived from craniofacial tissue behave differently from those of other tissue origin. Thus, using craniofacial MSCs appears to be a better cell source for craniofacial tissue regeneration. While adult stem cells offer various clinical benefits for tissue regeneration, their key drawback is the limited lifespan and differentiation potential for certain applications. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can overcome these deficiencies. Oral and dental stem cells are also a good source of cells to generate iPSCs. Generated iPSCs either from dental and nondental cell sources have been investigated for their capacity in neurogenesis as well as for craniofacial tissue regeneration, including craniofacial bone regeneration, pulp regeneration, periodontal tissue regeneration, and whole tooth regeneration. Before iPSCs can provide significant clinical benefits for patients, issues revolving iPSC biology, their translation, and clinical advancement that pose various challenges need to be resolved.