In January 2025, Professor Deng Hongkui’s research team, in collaboration with Professor Guan Jingyang’s team at Peking University, published their latest research findings entitled “A Rapid Chemical Reprogramming System to Generate Human Pluripotent Stem Cells” in Nature, a renowned international academic journal.
This study not only revealed the key epigenetic barriers in the chemical reprogramming system but also further optimized the rapid chemical reprogramming system. The research team successfully established a new rapid human cell chemical reprogramming system, reducing the time required for efficient induction of human CiPS cells from 30 days to within 16 days, with the shortest induction time being only 10 days.
The method was tested on somatic cells from 15 individuals with different genetic backgrounds and ages, and all achieved efficient induction of CiPS cells, with the highest induction efficiency reaching 38%. For donor cells with previously low reprogramming efficiency, this rapid chemical reprogramming system can increase the reprogramming efficiency by more than 20-fold within 16 days, greatly improving the universality of chemical reprogramming technology for different individuals.
Islet cells derived from CiPS prepared based on this technology have achieved functional cure in patients with type 1 diabetes. After treatment, patients can eat normally and become completely insulin-independent, fully demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of this technology.