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Emerging applications of human iPSCs in pituitary diseases

Nature Reviews Endocrinology (2026)Cite this article

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Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are used in regenerative medicine, disease modelling and drug screening. In addition, organoid culture techniques have enabled investigation of tissue development and cell–cell and tissue–tissue interactions in vitro. Over the past few years, pituitary disease modelling using iPSCs has been developed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to T. Aoi, H. Suga, T. Yamamoto, T. Ito, S. Kaneko, S. Urai, G. Iguchi, M. Yamamoto, H. Bando and H. Fukuoka for their insightful advice. The authors acknowledge support from a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (KAKENHI; 22K16425 to R.M., 22K16396 and 25K19653 to K.K.); a grant from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (hypothalamo-hypophyseal disorders grant to Y.T.); a Collaborative Research Grant 2025 to Y.T. from the Japan Endocrine Society; and a grant from AMED (Research Center Network for Realization of Regenerative Medicine to Y.T., and JP25ek0109828 to R.M.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Science Frontiers, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Ryusaku Matsumoto  (松本隆作)

  2. Division of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan

    Ryusaku Matsumoto  (松本隆作), Keitaro Kanie  (蟹江慶太郎) & Yutaka Takahashi  (髙橋裕)

  3. Laboratory of Regenerative Immunotherapy, Department of Cell Growth and Differentiation, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Keitaro Kanie  (蟹江慶太郎)

  4. Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Japan

    Yutaka Takahashi  (髙橋裕)

Authors
  1. Ryusaku Matsumoto  (松本隆作)
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  2. Keitaro Kanie  (蟹江慶太郎)
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  3. Yutaka Takahashi  (髙橋裕)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yutaka Takahashi  (髙橋裕).

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Matsumoto, R., Kanie, K. & Takahashi, Y. Emerging applications of human iPSCs in pituitary diseases. Nat Rev Endocrinol (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-026-01248-7

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