The invention provides in certain embodiments, a method of generating a re-programmed differentiated epithelial cell comprising (a) contacting a non-stem somatic cell obtained from a subject with an effective amount of a de-differentiation agent to form a de-differentiated cell, and (b) transfecting the de-differentiated cell with an expression cassette comprising a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a conversion agent to form a re-programmed differentiated cell. The invention also provides in certain embodiments, a method of generating a re-programmed differentiated epithelial cell comprising (a) contacting a non-stem somatic cell obtained from a subject with an effective amount of a de-differentiation agent to form a de-differentiated cell, and (b) contacting the de-differentiated cell with a conversion agent to form a re-programmed differentiated cell. The invention provides in certain embodiments, re-programmed differentiated epithelial cells, and methods of using these re-programmed differentiated epithelial cells to repair or re-generate tissue in vivo.
