Mesenchymal Cell News is a weekly email newsletter covering topics such as the isolation, identification, and culturing conditions of mesenchymal stem cells, as well as their cellular characterization, behavior and differentiation capacities. We also include research that focuses on identifying tissue sources of mesenchymal stem cells and their potential therapeutic applications in regenerative medicine and cellular therapies.
Scientists compared the osteogenic differentiation and bone defect repairment characteristics of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells sheets derived from alveolar bone and iliac bone in vitro and in vivo.
Investigators demonstrated that the adoptive transfer of gingiva derived mesenchymal stem cells homes to and maintains in the kidney and had a robust therapeutic effect in a spontaneous lupus nephritis model.
The authors summarize the current preclinical and clinical studies performed to investigate the regenerative potential of WJ‐MSCs in neural, myocardial, skin, liver, kidney, cartilage, bone, muscle, and other tissue injuries.
Researchers investigated the functional role of a nanosphere loaded with curcumin (CN) in the promotion of the motility of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) during the skin wound healing process. They found that transplantation of umbilical cord blood-MSCs pre-treated with CN enhanced wound closure, granulation, and re-epithelialization at mouse skin wound sites.
Kim, D.-W., Choi, C.-H., Park, J. P., & Lee, S.-J. (2020). Nanospheres Loaded with Curcumin Improve the Bioactivity of Umbilical Cord Blood-Mesenchymal Stem Cells via c-Src Activation During the Skin Wound Healing Process. Cells, 9(6), 1467. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9061467Cite
Emmes announced that it provided the Phase III clinical trial support for a new investigational cell therapy that offers a promising treatment opportunity for patients who need an allogeneic bone marrow transplant.
PMVs from human umbilical cord (hUC) MSCs were prepared with an improved procedure including a chemical enucleation step followed by a mechanical extrusion. Plasma membrane vesicles of hUCMSCs were characterized and supplemented to hepatocyte cultures.
Lin, M., Li, S., Yang, L., Ye, D., Xu, L., Zhang, X., … Wei, C. (2020). Plasma membrane vesicles of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells ameliorate acetaminophen-induced damage in HepG2 cells: a novel stem cell therapy. Stem Cell Research & Therapy, 11(1), 225. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13287-020-01738-zCite
Compared with sham or normoxia groups, RT-PCR and western blotting showed that divalent metal transporter 1 expression was significantly increased, and Prussian blue staining, ferrous iro, MDA, and GSH level detection demonstrated that ferroptosis occurred in the infraction myocardium and in cardiomyocyte following hypoxia-induced injury.
The authors discuss recent findings on the complex nature of MSCs, focusing on their elusive impact on glioblastoma progression and aggressiveness by direct cell‐cell interaction and via secretome, also facing the perspectives and challenges in treatment strategies.
Bajetto, A., Thellung, S., Dellacasagrande, I., Pagano, A., Barbieri, F., & Florio, T. (n.d.). Cross talk between mesenchymal and glioblastoma stem cells: Communication beyond controversies. STEM CELLS Translational Medicine, n/a(n/a). https://doi.org/10.1002/sctm.20-0161Cite
Investigators report that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) sheltered Mybacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) to help tolerate anti-TB drugs. MSCs readily took up Mtb and allowed unabated mycobacterial growth despite having a functional innate pathway of phagosome maturation.
Mesenchymal stem cells offer a drug-tolerant and immune-privileged niche to Mycobacterium tuberculosis | Nature Communications. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2020, from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16877-3Cite
Stem cells isolated from rat femora were incorporated into poly-l-lactide acid (PLLA) and PLLA-collagen type-I nanofiber scaffolds via simultaneous electrospinning and spraying.
Schüttler, K. F., Bauhofer, M. W., Ketter, V., Giese, K., Eschbach, D. A., Yenigün, M., Fuchs-Winkelmann, S., & Paletta, J. R. J. (2020). Direct incorporation of mesenchymal stem cells into a Nanofiber scaffold – in vitro and in vivo analysis. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 9557. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66281-6Cite
Through the optimization of material properties and composition of incubation buffers, silk ionomers could be electrostatically assembled on the surface of murine fibroblasts and human mesenchymal stem cells to form nanoscale multilayers without significantly impairing cell viability.
Synthesis and characterization of silk ionomers for layer-by-layer electrostatic deposition on individual mammalian cells | Biomacromolecules. (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2020, from https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.biomac.0c00523Cite