Thalidomide: limb and ear abnormalities
Alcohol: fetal alcohol syndrome
Zika virus: microcephaly
Model organisms are used for screening teratogeens
... and to study the mechanisms of teratogenesis
Folic acid supplement
recommended by NHS
prevents neural tube defects
pluripotent stem cells
derived from ICM of blastocystes
ethical controversy
Yamanaka factors → fibroblasts
functionally similar to ES cells
regenerative medicine
organoid models
Classical view: cancer cells proliferate independently
Cancer cells modify their environment
reciprocal interaction
common signalling pathways
Defect in cell-cell contact
Defect in paracrine signalling
Teratogens may prevent cancer cell proliferation
Some tumour cells are analogous to, or derived from adult stem cells
Lgr5+ intestinal adenoma stem cells
Gilbert, Scott F., and Michael J. F. Barresi. 2016. Developmental Biology. 11th ed. Sinauer Associates.
Slack, Jonathan M. W. 2018. Essential Developmental Biology. 3rd Ser. WIley-Blackwell.
Takeo, Makoto, and Takashi Tsuji. 2018. “Organ Regeneration Based on Developmental Biology: Past and Future.” Current Opinion in Genetics & Development 52: 42–47. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gde.2018.05.008.