Human mesenchymal stem cells isolated from the umbilical cord

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are known as a population of multi-potential cells able to proliferate and differentiate into multiple mesodermal tissues including bone, cartilage, muscle, ligament, tendon, fat and stroma. In this study human MSCs were successfully isolated from the umbilical cords. The research characteristics of these cells, e.g., morphologic appearance, surface antigens, growth curve, cytogenetic features, cell cycle, differentiation potential and gene expression were investigated. After 2weeks of incubation, fibroblast-like cells appeared to be dominant. During the second passage the cells presented a homogeneous population of spindle fibroblast-like cells. After more than 4months (approximately 26 passages), the cells continued to retain their characteristics. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that CD29, CD44, CD95, CD105 and HLA-I were expressed on the cell surface, but there was no expression of hematopoietic lineage markers, such as CD34, CD38, CD71 and HLA-DR. Chromosomal analysis showed the cells kept a normal karyotype. The cell cycle at the third passage showed the percentage of G(0)/G(1), G(2)/M and S phase were 88.86%, 5.69% and 5.45%, respectively. The assays in vitro demonstrated the cells exhibited multi-potential differentiation into osteogenic and adipogenic cells. Both BMI-1 and nucleostemin genes, expressed in adult MSCs from bone marrow, were also expressed in umbilical cord MSCs. Here we show that umbilical cords may be a novel alternative source of human MSCs for experimental and clinical applications.     

脐带间充质干细胞——组织工程的新视角

目的 从脐带中分离培养脐带间充质干细胞(mesenchymal stem cell, MSC) 并进行鉴定,阐明其多向分化的潜在作用.方法 收集健康胎儿脐带,分离培养脐带中的间充质干细胞,以流式细胞仪对培养的间充质干细胞进行细胞表面标志检测,多种成分联合诱导其向脂肪、成骨方向分化,细胞化学染色检测诱导后的细胞变化.结果 脐带中分离培养的间充质干细胞不表达造血细胞系的标志CD34、CD45、HLA-DR,强表达CD105、CD44、CD90,在适当的诱导条件下可向脂肪及成骨方向分化.结论 脐带中存在具有多向分化潜能的间充质干细胞.     

Mesenchymal stem cells from cryopreserved human umbilical cord blood

Umbilical cord blood (UCB) is well known to be a rich source of hematopoietic stem cells with practical and ethical advantages, but the presence of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in UCB has been disputed and it remains to be validated. In this study, we examined the ability of cryopreserved UCB harvests to produce cells with characteristics of MSCs. We were able to obtain homogeneous plastic adherent cells from the mononuclear cell fractions of cryopreserved UCB using our culture conditions. These adherent cell populations exhibited fibroblast-like morphology and typical mesenchymal-like immunophenotypes (CD73+, CD105+, and CD166+, etc.). These cells presented the self-renewal capacity and the mesenchymal cell-lineage potential to form bone, fat, and cartilage. Moreover, they expressed mRNAs of multi-lineage genes including SDF-1, NeuroD, and VEGF-R1, suggesting that the obtained cells had the multi-differentiation capacity as bone marrow-derived MSCs. These results indicate that cryopreserved human UCB fractions can be used as an alternative source of MSCs for experimental and therapeutic applications.     

Isolation and characterization of mesenchymal stem cells from caprine umbilical cord tissue matrix

Cord tissue fills the umbilical cord around the blood vessels and contains types of stem cells (mesenchymal stem cells or MSCs) that are not generally found in cord blood. MSCs are the stem cells that give rise to many of the “support tissues” in the body, including bone, cartilage, fat and muscle. Umbilical Cord Tissue cells (UCTs) possessing the capacity to differentiate into various cell types such as osteoblasts, chondrocytes and adipocytes have been previously isolated from different species including human, canine, murine, avian species etc. The present study documents the existence of similar multipotential stem cells in caprine UCTs having similar growth and morphological characteristics. The cells were isolated from caprine umbilical cord and cultivated in DMEM (low glucose) supplemented with 15% FBS, L-glutamine and antibiotics. Primary culture achieved confluence in 5–7 days having spindle shaped morphology. The cells were morphologically homogeneous, showed robust proliferation ability with a population doubled time of 92.07 h as well as normal karyotype. In vitro self-renewal capacity was demonstrated by colony-forming unit assay (CFU). The cells expressed MSC specific markers and showed multi-differentiation capability into adipogenic and osteogeneic. The results indicated that caprine UCTs (cUCTs) were isolated and characterized from umbilical cord tissue which can be used for tissue regeneration.     

脐静脉和骨髓来源的间充质干细胞的比较研究

间充质干细胞(MSCs)的来源有限,成人骨髓是MSCs的主要来源,这极大地限制了其在实验和临床中的应用。为拓宽MSCs来源,从细胞形态、生长特性、免疫表型和多向分化能力等四个方面对人脐静脉来源和成人骨髓来源的间充质干细胞进行了比较研究。结果表明,人脐静脉来源和成人骨髓来源的 MSCs具有相似的生物学特征,成纤维细胞样形态生长,并具有强大的体外扩增和多向分化能力。人脐静脉来源的MSCs可替代成人骨髓MSCs,作为满足实验和临床需要的重要来源。     

In vitro cardiomyogenic potential of human umbilical vein-derived mesenchymal stem cells

Cardiomyocyte loss in the ischemically injured human heart often leads to irreversible defects in cardiac function. Recently, cellular cardiomyoplasty with mesenchymal stem cells, which are multipotent cells with the ability to differentiate into specialized cells under appropriate stimuli, has emerged as a new approach for repairing damaged myocardium. In the present study, the potential of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells to differentiate into cells with characteristics of cardiomyocyte was investigated. Mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from endothelial/subendothelial layers of the human umbilical cords using a method similar to that of human umbilical vein endothelial cell isolation. Isolated cells were characterized by transdifferentiation ability to adipocytes and osteoblasts, and also with flow cytometry analysis. After treatment with 5-azacytidine, the human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells were morphologically transformed into cardiomyocyte-like cells and expressed cardiac differentiation markers. During the differentiation, cells were monitored by a phase contrast microscope and their morphological changes were demonstrated. Immunostaining of the differentiated cells for sarcomeric myosin (MF20), desmin, cardiac troponin I, and sarcomeric alpha-actinin was positive. RT-PCR analysis showed that these differentiated cells express cardiac-specific genes. Transmission electron microscopy revealed a cardiomyocyte-like ultrastructure and typical sarcomers. These observations confirm that human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells can be chemically transformed into cardiomyocytes and can be considered as a source of cells for cellular cardiomyoplasty.     

Fetal mesenchymal stem cells derived from human umbilical cord sustain primitive characteristics during extensive expansion

Stem cells of fetal origin lie between embryonic and adult stem cells in terms of potentiality. Because of the ethical controversy surrounding embryonic stem cells and the relatively inferior quality of adult stem cells, the use of fetal stem cells would be an attractive option in future therapeutic applications. Here, we have investigated primitive characteristics of human umbilical-cord-derived fetal mesenchymal stem cells (UC fMSCs) during extensive expansion. We have successfully isolated and cultured UC fMSCs from all UC samples, but with two early fungal contaminations. UC fMSCs proliferated without significant evidence of morphological changes, and the average cumulative population-doubling level was over 25 for about 3 months. UC fMSCs showed the positive expression of several CD markers, known to be related to MSCs, including CD73 (SH-3, 4), CD90 (Thy-1), CD105 (SH-2), CD117 (c-kit), and CD166 (ALCAM). They demonstrated primitive properties throughout the expansion period: multilineage differentiation potentials examined by functional assays, a variety of pluripotent stem cell markers including Nanog, Oct-4, Sox-2, Rex-1, SSEA-3, SSEA-4, Tra-1–60, and Tra-1–81, minimal evidence of senescence as shown by β-galactosidase staining, and the consistent expression of telomerase activity. These results suggest that UC fMSCs have more primitive properties than adult MSCs, which might make them a useful source of MSCs for clinical applications. This work was supported by the Seoul R&BD Program (10548).     

Conditioned media from human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells stimulate rejuvenation function in human skin

Developing treatments that inhibit skin aging is an important research project. Rejuvenation, which focuses on prevention of skin aging, is one of the major issues. Recent studies suggested that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) secrete many cytokines, which are important in wound healing. In this study, we investigated the effect of human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells conditioned media (USC-CM) in cutaneous wound healing and collagen synthesis. We found that USC-CM has many useful growth factors associated with skin rejuvenation, such as Epithelial Growth Factor (EGF), basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (bFGF), Platelet Derived Growth Factor (PDGF), Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF), Collagen type 1, and especially, one of the rejuvenation factors, the growth differentiation factor-11 (GDF-11). Our in vitro results showed that USC-CM stimulate growth and extracellular matrix (ECM) production of Human Dermal Fibroblasts (HDFs) compared to those of other MSCs conditioned media (CM) from different origins. Moreover, we evaluated the roles of GDF-11. The results showed that GDF-11 accelerates growth, migration and ECM production of HDFs. Our In vivo results showed that topical treatment of USC-CM showed anti-wrinkle effect and significantly increased dermal density in women. In conclusion, USC-CM has various useful growth factors including GDF-11 that can stimulate skin rejuvenation by increasing growth and ECM production of HDFs.     

白细胞介素4降低脐带间充质干细胞对造血干细胞分化潜能的维持能力

目的探讨白细胞介素4（IL-4）对脐带间充质干细胞（UC-MSC）维持造血干细胞分化的影响。 方法将UC-MSC与脐带血CD34⁺造血干细胞按照造血支持能力常用的方案共培养,实验分为对照组和IL-4组,IL-4处理组加入IL-4（20 ng/ml）培养14 d。收集细胞并计数,使用流式细胞仪检测表达CD34的细胞比例。取3×10³个细胞,加入到半固体培养基,培养14 d后,通过倒置显微镜观察比较各种集落的形成,并使用流式细胞仪分析其中巨噬细胞和粒细胞表面特异性蛋白CD11b、CD14和CD15的表达。对两独立样本进行t检验统计学分析。 结果加入IL-4后,共培养体系中细胞数量（1.31±0.05）×10⁵个/孔与对照组（2.80±0.28）×10^5?个/孔相比下降,差异有统计学意义（t = 7.31,P < 0.05）,并且流式细胞分析显示其中的CD34⁺细胞比例也有降低。3×10³个IL-4组得到的细胞形成巨噬细胞集落形成单位的能力（9.33±1.53）?个/孔较对照组（17.67±0.58）个/孔有明显下降,差异有统计学意义（t = 8.84,P?< 0.001）;形成粒-巨噬集落形成单位的能力（15.67±3.22）个/孔较对照组（29.33±4.04）?个/?孔有明显下降,差异有统计学意义（t = 4.58,P < 0.05）;形成总集落单位的能力（39.33±9.07）个/?孔较对照组（62.67±6.66）?个/?孔也有下降,差异有统计学意义（t = 3.59,P < 0.05）。IL-4组得到的细胞分化出的细胞总数（3.67±1.71）×10⁵个/孔与对照组（9.50± 3.13）×10⁵个/孔相比也明显下降,差异有统计学意义（t = 2.83,P < 0.05）,而流式细胞术分析发现分化成的细胞中CD14⁺细胞比例也下降。 结论IL-4可以降低UC-MSC对造血干细胞分化潜能的维持能力,提示在Ⅱ型辅助T细胞相关体液免疫疾病中使用间充质干细胞治疗时,也需要兼顾机体造血相关功能。     

Isolation and characterization of Oct-4+/HLA-G+ mesenchymal stem cells from human umbilical cord matrix: differentiation potential and detection of new markers

The presence of multipotent cells in several adult and embryo-related tissues opened new paths for their use in regenerative medicine. Extraembryonic tissues such as umbilical cord are considered a promising source of stem cells, potentially useful in therapy. The characterization of cells from the umbilical cord matrix (Wharton’s Jelly) and amniotic membrane revealed the presence of a population of mesenchymal-like cells, sharing a set of core-markers expressed by “mesenchymal stem cells”. Several reports enlightened the differentiation capabilities of these cells, even if at times the lack of an extensive characterization of surface markers and immune co-stimulators expression revealed hidden pitfalls when in vivo transplantation was performed. The present work describes a novel isolation protocol for obtaining mesenchymal stem cells from the umbilical cord matrix. These cells are clonogenic, retain long telomeres, can undergo several population doublings in vitro, and can be differentiated in mature mesenchymal tissues as bone and adipose. We describe for the first time that these cells, besides expressing all of the core-markers for mesenchymal stem cells, feature also the expression, at both protein and mRNA level, of tolerogenic molecules and markers of all the three main lineages, potentially important for both their differentiative potential as well as immunological features. G. La Rocca and R. Anzalone have contributed equally to this work.     

Osteogenic differentiation of GFP-labeled human umbilical cord blood derived mesenchymal stem cells after cryopreservation

The osteogenic capacity of human umbilical cord blood derived mesenchymal stem cells (UCB-MSCs) has been demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, cell labeling and storage are becoming necessary for researching the potential therapeutic use of UCB-MSCs for bone tissue engineering. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of cryopreservation on the osteogenic differentiation of green fluorescent protein (GFP)-marked UCB-MSCs in vitro. MSCs were isolated from full-term human UCB, expanded, transfected with the GFP gene, and then cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen for 4 weeks. After thawing, cell surface antigen markers and osteogenic potential were analyzed, and the luminescence of these cells was observed by fluorescence microscopy. The results demonstrate that cryopreservation has no effect on the cell phenotype, GFP expression or osteogenic differentiation of UCB-MSCs, showing that cryopreserved GFP-labeled UCB-MSCs might be applied for bone tissue engineering.     

In vitro mesengenic potential of human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells

Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) have been paid a great deal of attention because of their unprecedented therapeutic merits endowed by powerful ex vivo expansion and multilineage differentiation potential. Umbilical cord blood (UCB) is a convenient but not fully proven source for hMSCs, and hence, greater experience is required to establish UCB as a reliable source of hMSCs. To this end, we attempted to isolate hMSC-like adherent cells from human UCB. The isolated cells were highly proliferative and exhibited an immunophenotype of CD13+ CD14- CD29+ CD31- CD34- CD44+ CD45- CD49e+ CD54+ CD90+ CD106- ASMA+ SH2+ SH3+ HLA-ABC+ HLA-DR-. More importantly, these cells, under appropriate conditions, could differentiate into a variety of mesenchymal lineage cells such as osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes, and skeletal myoblasts. This mesengenic potential assures that the UCB-derived cells are multipotent hMSCs and further implicates that UCB can be a legitimate source of hMSCs.     

诱导人脐带间充质干细胞分化为视网膜色素上皮样细胞的研究

目的：探讨用猪视网膜色素上皮细胞（RPE）条件培养基诱导hUCMSCs分化为RPE样细胞的方法。方法通过流式细胞技术鉴定hUCMSCs的表面标记分子;通过诱导hUCMSCs分化成为脂肪、骨和软骨细胞确定其多系分化能力;将hUCMSCs培养在猪RPE的条件培养液中并添加诱导因子来诱导hUCMSCs向RPE细胞分化。对照组与处理组Q-PCR结果采用t检验比较。结果 hUCMSCs表达CD105、CD90、CD73、CD44和CD29,但不表达CD34,CD45和MHCII等分子标记,在成脂、成骨、成软骨分化培养基中可分化为脂肪、骨和软骨细胞。单独使用猪RPE条件培养液不能有效诱导hUCMSCs向RPE细胞分化,但联合应用猪RPE条件培养液和诱导因子（视黄酸,activin-A和人重组骨形成蛋白-7）可有效诱导hUCMSCs分化为RPE样细胞,RPE细胞标记分子RPE65、Mitf和Ck8/18的基因表达量分别提高了2.1±0.4、6.8±1.3和2.5±0.3倍（P〈0.05）。诱导产生的RPE样细胞呈多边形,但不含色素颗粒。结论猪RPE条件培养液联合诱导因子可有效诱导hUCMSCs分化为RPE样细胞,可能会为治疗视网膜变性疾病提供合适的种子细胞。     

Comparative proteomic analysis of mesenchymal stem cells derived from human bone marrow,umbilical cord,and placenta: Implication in the migration

Umbilical cord (UC) and placenta (P) have been suggested as alternatives to bone marrow (BM) as sources of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) for cell therapy, with both UC‐ and P‐MSC possess immunophenotypic and functional characteristics similar to BM‐MSC. However, their migration capacity, which is indispensable during tissue regeneration process, is unclear. Under defined conditions, the migration capacity of BM‐ and P‐MSC was found 5.9‐ and 3.2‐folds higher than that of UC‐MSC, respectively. By the use of 2‐DE and combined MS and MS/MS analysis, six differentially expressed proteins were identified among these MSC samples, with five of them known to be involved in cell migration as migration enhancing or inhibiting proteins. Consistent with their migration capacity, the levels of migration enhancing proteins including cathepsin B, cathepsin D and prohibitin,were significantly lower in UC‐MSC when compared with those in BM‐ and P‐MSC. For the migration inhibiting proteins such as plasminogen activator inhibitor‐1 (PAI‐1) and manganese superoxide dismutase, higher expression was found in the UC‐MSC. We also showed that the overexpression of the PAI‐1 impaired the migration capacity of BM‐ and P‐MSC while silencing of PAI‐1 enhanced the migration capacity of UC‐MSC. Our study indicates that PAI‐1 and other migration‐related proteins are pivotal in governing the migration capacity of MSC.     

人脐带间充质干细胞在急性肾小管坏死模型犬的体内分布及趋化性

目的 观察人脐带间充质干细胞在家犬急性肾小管坏死模型的体内分布及归巢.方法 健康家犬18 只随机分为3 组.模型1 组:肌注新鲜配制的0.2﹪二氯化汞溶液7 ml/kg建立急性肾小管坏死模型,采用经外周静脉注射法输注体外分离培养并用4',6- 二脒基-2- 苯基吲哚(DAPI)标记的人脐带间充质干细胞.模型2 组:造模...     

间充质干细胞促进脐带血干细胞体外扩增的研究进展

非亲缘脐带血移植是治疗造血系统疾病的重要移植方式之一,但脐带血移植面临的最大挑战是造血干细胞(HSCs)数量不足,特别是成人患者受到脐带血干细胞数量的限制,导致造血及免疫恢复延迟,非复发死亡率升高。体外扩增脐带血HSCs(UCB-HSCs)是解决该问题的途径之一。研究发现可以通过模拟骨髓造血龛(niche)这一生态位使HSCs在体外进行自我更新增殖,而间充质干细胞(MSCs)正是造血龛的重要的组成细胞之一。本文将探讨MSCs在UCB-HSCs体外扩增中的应用。重点以MSCs促造血的特点、机制,促进脐带血干细胞增殖的各种策略以及其临床应用和前景做一综述。     

Down-regulation of CD105 is associated with multi-lineage differentiation in human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells

Umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UCB-MSCs) have multi-lineage differentiation potential, thus highlighting the feasibility of using UCB-MSCs as a valuable source of stem-cells for cell-based therapy. However, there are no well-defined markers for assessment of the multi-potency of UCB-MSCs. Thus, we focused on the identification of suitable markers by examining cell surface protein expressions of UCB-MSCs as their multi-lineage differentiations progressed. The expression of CD105, one of the cell surface proteins, was significantly decreased in differentiated osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes, and respiratory epithelium, and the portion of CD105-positive cells from 99.4 ± 0.1% to 3.5 ± 1.4%, 3.5 ± 2.3%, 16.7 ± 3.6%, and 2.1 ± 1.5%, respectively. As to such indicators as alkaline phosphatase (ALP), glycosaminoglycan (GAG), oil Red O, and surfactant protein C (SPC), they showed increases, confirming differentiation of UCB-MSCs into osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes, and respiratory epithelium. This is the first study to demonstrate a negative correlation between expression of CD105 over the time course of multi-lineage differentiation and the degree of differentiation of UCB-MSCs. We propose that CD105 is a useful novel marker to characterize differentiation status of isolated human UCB-MSCs, which will be useful to facilitate the application of such cells in stem-cell therapy.     

In vitro differentiation of human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells into hepatocyte-like cells

In addition to long-term self-renewal capability, human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess versatile differentiation potential ranging from mesenchyme-related multipotency to neuroectodermal and endodermal competency. Of particular concern is hepatogenic potential that can be used for liver-directed stem cell therapy and transplantation. In this study, we have investigated whether human umbilical cord blood (UCB)-derived MSCs are also able to differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells. MSCs isolated from UCB were cultured under the pro-hepatogenic condition similar to that for bone marrow (BM)-derived MSCs. Expression of a variety of hepatic lineage markers was analyzed by flow cytometry, RT-PCR, Western blot, and immunofluorescence. The functionality of differentiated cells was assessed by their ability to incorporate DiI-acetylated low-density lipoprotein (DiI-Ac-LDL). As the cells were morphologically transformed into hepatocyte-like cells, they expressed Thy-1, c-Kit, and Flt-3 at the cell surface, as well as albumin, alpha-fetoprotein, and cytokeratin-18 and 19 in the interior. Moreover, about a half of the cells were found to acquire the capability to transport DiI-Ac-LDL. Based on these observations, and taking into account immense advantages of UCB over other stem cell sources, we conclude that UCB-derived MSCs retain hepatogenic potential suitable for cell therapy and transplantation against intractable liver diseases.