Table 2.

Molecules and signaling pathways associated with differentiation and transdifferentiation

Pathway	Activation/inhibition	Starting cell and ending cells	Remarks	References
Notch	Inhibition	Mouse fibroblast → cardiomyocytes	–	[55]
JAK-STAT	Activation	Mouse neural stem cells/fibroblasts → iPSCs	–	[56]
	Inhibition	Mouse embryonic fibroblasts → cardiomyocytes	With expression of OSKM and Bmp4	[57]
TGF-β	Inhibition	Mouse embryonic fibroblasts → iPSCs	–	[58]
		Mesenchymal-type human fibroblasts → iPSCs	–	[58]
BMP	Activation	Mouse fibroblasts → cardiovascular progenitor cells (CPC)	With activation of Wnt and TGF-β pathway	[59–62]
Wnt	Activation	Mouse fibroblasts/neural stem cells → iPSCs	–	[63, 64]
	Inhibition	Mouse fibroblasts → cardiomyocyte	With SB431542	[60]
	Activated by CHIR99021	Mouse fibroblasts → cardiomyocyte	With Repsox (inhibiting TGF-β signaling), forskolin (increasing cAMP), and phosphodiesterase (PDE) 4 inhibitors (rolipram and cilomilast)	[65]
		Human fibroblasts → neurons	With inhibition of TGF-β signaling by SB431542 and transduction with Ascl1 and Ngn2	[66]
MAPK/ERK	Inhibited by PD0325901	Mouse neural progenitor cells → iPSCs	–	[67]
ROCK	Inhibited by Y-27632	Mouse fibroblasts → cardiomyocytes	–	[68]
		Human dermal fibroblasts → induced multipotent mesenchymal stem cell–like cells (iMSCs)	With SP600125 (JNK inhibitor), SB202190 (p38 inhibitor), Go 6983 (PKC inhibitor), PD0325901 (ERK1/2 inhibitor), and CHIR99021, with or without growth factors (TGF-β, bFGF, and LIF)	[69]
mTOR	Inhibited by Sox2	Mouse embryonic fibroblasts → iPSC	–	[70]