Figure 7.

Patient-specific stem-cell therapy using human amniocytes in a xenoculture-free, autologous system. In this model, discarded amniocytes are obtained as a byproduct of routine antenatal screening and can be banked. At an appropriate time, they are cultured and reprogrammed in vitro to become patient-specific amniocyte-derived induced pluripotent stem (AdiPS) cells. AdiPS cells may then be maintained and expanded on amniocyte feeder cells from the same patient and subsequently banked for later use in cell-based directed differentiation or other protocols to generate new tissues.