Abstract:

Oct-4 and Nanog are two critical transcriptional factors to keep pluripotency and self-renewal of stem cells in vivo and in vitro, and they usually express only in pluripotent cells and not in differentiated cells. They bind to the regulatory regions of targeted gene and often interact with other transcriptional factors and extracellular signal path components, such as Sox-2, FoxD3, LIF and BMP in specific tissues or developmental stages. So that all of these constitute a transcriptional crosstalk, and finally determine the cells destiny: keeping pluripotency or turning to differentiation.