Comparison of a teratogenic transcriptome-based predictive test based on human embryonic versus inducible pluripotent stem cells

Background Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) partially recapitulate early embryonic three germ layer development, allowing testing of potential teratogenic hazards. Because use of hESCs is ethically debated, we investigated the potential for human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to replace hESCs in such tests.