In Adult Stem Cells
Several studies suggest a role for Oct-4 in sustaining self-renewal capacity of adult somatic stem cells (i.e. stem cells from epithelium, bone marrow, liver, etc.). Other scientists have produced evidence to the contrary, and dismiss those studies as artifacts of in vitro culture, or interpreting background noise as signal, and warn about Oct-4 pseudogenes giving false detection of Oct-4 expression. Oct-4 has also been implicated as a marker of cancer stem cells. In in-vitro experiments of murine Embryonic Stem Cells, Oct-4 has often been used as a marker of stemness, as differentiated cells show reduced expression of this marker.
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