excellent review by Buganim et al. for a more in-depth discussion of the subject 34. This process is far from perfect and hiPSCs may still retain some of their originator somatic cell’s gene expression patterns and chromatin modification patterns, biasing their differentiation potential towards their originator cell lineage. However, when human hiPSCs and ESCs were compared controlling for genetic background, clonality and sex, no consistent differential gene expression or epigenetic signature could be found, suggesting that hESCs and hiPSCs are molecularly and functionally equivalent 35.
