Mesenchymal Cell News Volume 3.22 | Jun 7 2011

Stem Cell Treatment May Offer Option for Broken Bones that Don’t Heal
Researchers have shown in an animal study that transplantation of adult stem cells enriched with a bone-regenerating hormone can help mend bone fractures that are not healing properly. [Press release from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine discussing research presented at The Endocrine Society’s 93rd Annual Meeting]

Stem Cells From Fat Used To Repair Skull Defects
Stem cells derived from abdominal fat are a potentially valuable new approach to repairing skull defects after brain surgery, according to a study. [Press release from Medical News Today discussing online prepublication in Neurosurgery]

Pioneering Stem Cell Bandage Receives UK Approval for Clinical Trial
The world’s first clinical trial for the treatment of patients with torn meniscal cartilage has received approval from the UK regulatory agency, the MHRA, to commence. The Phase I trial will treat meniscal tear patients with a cell bandage product, seeded with the patient’s own, expanded, stem cells. [University of Bristol Press Release]

Pro-Osteogenic Trophic Effects by PKA Activation in Human Mesenchymal Stromal Cells
Researchers recently demonstrated that secretion of bone specific growth factors can be enhanced by treatment of human mesenchymal stromal cells with the small molecule db-cAMP (cAMP) and here they investigate the biological activity of these secreted factors. [Biomaterials]

The Influence of Substrate Creep on Mesenchymal Stem Cell Behaviour and Phenotype
In this study researchers aimed to isolate and identify the effects of the viscous component of a substrate on human mesenchymal stem cell behaviour. [Biomaterials]

High Levels of ß-catenin Signaling Reduce Osteogenic Differentiation of Stem Cells in Inflammatory Microenvironments through Inhibition of the Noncanonical Wnt Pathway
In this study, researchers have determined the specific mechanism of ß-catenin in osteogenic differentiation of periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs), a new population of mesenchymal stem cells, obtained from inflammatory microenvironment (P-PDLSCs). [J Bone Miner Res]

The Cell Surface Proteome of Human Mesenchymal Stromal Cells
To obtain a comprehensive view of the cell surface proteome of bone marrow-derived human mesenchymal stromal cells, researchers have developed an analytical pipeline relying on cell surface biotinylation of intact cells using cell impermeable, cleavable sulfo-NHS-SS-biotin to enrich the plasma membrane proteins and mass spectrometry for identification with extremely high confidence. [PLoS ONE]

Fetal Liver-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Engraftment After Allogeneic In Utero Transplantation into Rabbits
In this follow-up study, researchers report safe and widespread distribution of recombinant pSF-EGFP retrovirus-transduced fetal rabbit liver mesenchymal stem cells (EGFP+-fl-MSCs) in neonatal rabbit tissues at 10 days after fetal allogeneic transplantation through both intrahepatic and intra-amniotic administration. [Stem Cells Dev]

Nuclear Receptors Nur77 and Nurr1 Modulate Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Migration
To identify genes involved in the process of mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) migration, researchers generated gene expression profiles of migrating and nonmigrating fetal bone marrow MSC. [Stem Cells Dev]

Expression of Mesenchyme-Specific Gene Signatures by Follicular Dendritic Cells: Insights from the Meta-Analysis of Microarray Data from Multiple Mouse Cell Populations
The data suggest follicular dendritic cells are a specialized mesenchymal cell population within the germinal centres of lymphoid tissues. [Immunology]

Tissue Engineering-Based Cartilage Repair with Mesenchymal Stem Cells in a Porcine Model
This in vivo pilot study explored the use of mesenchymal stem cell containing tissue engineering constructs in repair of osteochondral defects. [J Orthop Res]

Cranioplasty With Adipose-Derived Stem Cells and Biomaterial: A Novel Method for Cranial Reconstruction
The combination of scaffold material such as beta-tricalcium phosphate and autologous adipose-derived stem cells constitutes a promising model for reconstruction of human large cranial defects. The success of these clinical cases paves way for further studies and clinical applications to turn this method into a reliable treatment regimen. [Neurosurgery]

Characterization and Comparison of Telomere Length, Telomerase and Reverse Transcriptase Activity and Gene Expression in Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Cancer Cells of Various Origins
Rsearchers have characterized and compared the telomere length, telomerase, reverse transcriptase activity and expression of genes implicated in cancer and in pluripotency, in human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from dental papilla tissue, umbilical cord matrix and adipose tissue and in cancer cells (MDA-MB-231, U-87 MG, and MCF-7). [Cell Tissue Res]