Letter by Li and Hao Regarding Article, 'Transdifferentiation of Human Fibroblasts to Endothelial Cells: Role of Innate Immunity'

We read with great interest the important article by Sayed and coworkers1 on the role of innate immunity in somatic reprogramming. They discovered that activation of innate immune signaling by small molecules and an agonist of Toll-like receptor 3, combined with endothelial growth factors, is sufficient to transdifferentiate human fibroblasts to endothelial cells. The same research group reported previously that stimulation of Toll-like receptor 3 causes global changes in the expression of epigenetic modifiers to enhance nuclear reprogramming.2 …