Trib2 regulates the pluripotency of embryonic stem cells and enhances reprogramming efficiency

A regulatory enzyme that affects other signaling pathways appears to be important in inducing and maintaining cell division in stem cells. A team headed by Jae Ho Kim of Pusan National University, South Korea investigated the effect of Tribbles homolog 2 (Trib2) in maintaining pluripotency, the ability of a cell to give rise to all an organism's different cell types, in embryonic stem cells (ES) from mice. The authors found that expression of Trib2 decreased as ES cells differentiated and that reduced expression of Trib2 diminished the cells' pluripotency. They also determined that Trib2 plays a role in the generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, pluripotent cells derived from adult cells. The findings have implications for the therapeutic applications of ES and iPS cells.