REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Alloimmunity and Transplantation
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Significance of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells in Translational MedicineView all articles
In vitro derivation of megakaryocytes and platelets from induced pluripotent stem cells: developmental foundations and translational perspectives
Provisionally accepted
- 1Uniwersytet Medyczny w Lodzi, Łódź, Poland
- 2Medical University of Lodz, Łódź, Poland
- 3Instytut Biologii Medycznej Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Łódź, Poland
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For centuries, hematologists have strived to develop increasingly sophisticated systems and therapeutic protocols for replenishing the blood. However, demographic shifts have led to a growing demand for blood-derived products, and the number of eligible donors continues to decline, raising concerns regarding the future availability and cost-effectiveness of transfusion therapies. Advances in our understanding of molecular hematopoiesis, coupled with the development of precise gene-editing tools such as CRISPR/Cas9 and the advent of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSCs) technology, have opened new avenues for the generation of functional blood components in vitro. The ability to reprogram somatic cells into pluripotent states offers a virtually unlimited and ethically acceptable source of patient-specific or universal donor-compatible cells for both research and therapeutic applications. This review summarizes the current strategies for the in vitro generation of megakaryocytes and functional platelets from iPSCs and outlines the developmental foundations of primitive and definitive hematopoiesis that underpin these efforts. Furthermore, we emphasize strategies aimed at improving maturation and yield, along with emerging approaches in HLA editing and immune tolerance designed to overcome alloimmune barriers in transfusion medicine.
Keywords: in vitro hematopoiesis, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), Platelet biogenesis, Megakaryocyte differentiation, cell-based transfusion therapy
Received: 07 Oct 2025; Accepted: 24 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mazurek, Mlynarski and Grzela. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dawid Paweł Grzela
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