Human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs) are adult stem cells
located within the stroma of bone marrow, adipose tissue, the placenta, muscle
and elsewhere. With their capacity for multipotent differentiation into various
mesoderm type cells such as osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes and myocytes hMSCs
have become a focus of therapeutic research for various forms of tissue
regeneration such as muscle and bone repair.
There's still much to explore and refine before hMSCs can
become a more applicable tool in the clinical setting. New methods for
isolation are required in order to gather enough pure MSCs for research and
treatment purposes. hMSCs comprise only a small fraction of the cells in
tissues where they can be found, less than 1% in bone marrow for instance,
requiring biological markers for their precise locating and separation. The
small levels capable of being extracted from humans can't meet research and
treatment needs, requiring hMSC growth outside of a living organism. However
hMSC growth outside the body is limited and negatively correlated with age of
the donor, indicating a need for methods to improve proliferation rate. After a
suitable supply of hMSCs has been acquired established methods are still
required in order to differentiate them into the types of cells needed for
clinical use. Without further advances in these areas other developments in
hMSC research and clinical application will be severely inhibited.
Citations:
Jones M, Varella-Garcia M, Skokan M, Bryce S, Schowinsky J,
Peters R, Vang B, Brecheisen M, Startz T, Frank N, et al. 2013. Genetic
stability of bone marrow-derived human mesenchymal stromal cells in the Quantum
System. Cytotherapy. 15(11):1323-1339.
Aldahmash A, Zaher W, Al-Nbaheen M, Kassem M. 2012. Human
stromal (mesenchymal) stem cells: basic biology and current clinical use for
tissue regeneration. Ann Saudi Med. 32(1):68-77.
Ciapetti G, Granchi D, Baldini N. 2012. The combined use of
mesenchymal stromal cells and scaffolds for bone repair. Curr Pharm Des.
18(13):1796-1820.
Erik,
ReplyDeleteI found this post extremely interesting, especially since I had very little prior knowledge of human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs). I found a study where researchers were able to isolate human alveolar bone-derived mesenchymal stem cells and were successful in growing the cells in vitro. They also successfully differentiated the cells into osteoblasts, adipocytes, and chondrocytes. However, this work is still preliminary and future research needs to be conducted to determine in vivo development of these cells (Pekovits).
REFERENCE:
Pekovits K, Kropfl JM, Stelzer I, Payer M, Hutter H, Dohr G. 2013 Sep. Human mesenchymal progenitor cells derived from alveolar bone and human bone marrow stromal cells: a comparative study. Histochemistry and Cell Biology. 140(6):611-621.