Figure 2.

Potential risks of tumorigenicity through the induction of pluripotency. (A): The induction of somatic cells to pluripotency using transcription factors causes significant cellular remodeling and reprogramming, including the resetting of epigenetic states. This resetting includes global hypomethylation, which removes methylated, silenced signatures in parental cells. This global hypomethylation could potentially lead to the generation of chromosomal abnormalities, the activation of previously silenced oncogenes, and abnormal cell growth. The insertion, integration, overexpression, and reactivation of oncogenic transcription factors such as C‐Myc, especially via viral integration methods, may similarly result in the reactivation of oncogenic networks and abnormal cell growth following reprogramming. (B): The insertion and integration of C‐Myc may also inhibit tumor suppressors or reactivate previously silenced oncogenes, thereby triggering abnormal cell growth.