《生命科学》 2016, 28(6): 655-662
摘 要：摘 要：胚胎干细胞自问世之初便承载了人们对于治疗各种疾病的期望。其来源于早期胚胎发育囊胚的内细胞团，这些细胞具有快速增殖和分化为所有其他体细胞的特性。由于这些特性，胚胎干细胞必须被小心加以控制才不至于在治疗过程中产生不受限制的生长( 即致瘤性) 和不必要的细胞污染。控制胚胎干细胞的增殖和分化的前提是人们尽可能多地掌握其内在调控的关键分子机制。对胚胎干细胞的增殖和分化的调控发生在多个层面，包括细胞信号通路、染色质高级结构、转录因子、微小RNA 和长非编码RNA。简要综述胚胎干细胞中微小RNA 的调控功能和机制研究进展，并展望这一领域未来的发展方向。
Abstract: Abstract: Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) hold great promises for regenerative medicine that may cure a variety of diseases including diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases. Derived from the inner cell mass of preimplantation blastocyst， this cell culture artifact can undergo rapid self-renewal indefinitely while keeping the ability to differentiate into any cells in the body. The key to harness their potential for regenerative medicine is to control their proliferation and differentiation. For this reason we need to understand the molecular mechanisms governing the self-renewal and differentiation of ESCs. Multiple layers of regulation imposed by signaling pathways， chromatin modifications and high-order chromatin structures， transcription factors， microRNAs and large noncoding RNAs have been shown to be important for the self-renewal and differentiation of ESCs. In this short review， we will briefly summarize the current understanding of microRNA functions in ESCs， we will also discuss the major future directions of the field.
