Mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of pediatric diseases

Mesenchymal stem cell therapies in brain disease

As treatments for diseases throughout the body progress, treatment for many brain diseases has been at a standstill due to difficulties in drug delivery. While new drugs are being discovered in vitro, these therapies are often hindered by inefficient tissue distribution and, more commonly, an inability to cross the blood brain barrier. Mesenchymal stem cells are thus being investigated as a delivery tool to directly target therapies to the brain to treat wide array of brain diseases. This review discusses the use of mesenchymal stem cells in hypoxic disease (hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy), an inflammatory neurodegenerative disease (multiple sclerosis), and a malignant condition (glioma).

Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia and Chronic Lung Disease: Stem Cell Therapy

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a major complication of premature birth, still lacks safe and effective treatment. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been proven to ameliorate critical aspects of the BPD pathogenesis. MSCs seem to exert therapeutic effects through the paracrine secretion of anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiapoptotic, trophic, and proangiogenic factors. Although these findings are promising, understanding the mechanism of action of MSCs and MSC manufacturing is still evolving. Several aspects can affect the efficacy of MSC therapy. Further research is required to optimize this potentially game-changing treatment but the translation of regenerative cell therapies for patients has begun.

Stem Cell Therapy: Current Applications and Potential for Urology

Stem cell therapy holds the potential to revolutionize the treatment of a number of chronic conditions. Stem cells ability to home in on injured sites of the body, stimulate angiogenesis, tissue regeneration, immunomodulation, anti-inflammatory, and anti-fibrotic factors have attracted their use in the treatment of many conditions. Urology has registered one of the highest experimental successes using stem cell therapy. However, the rate of clinical applications is comparatively lower. This review takes a look at our efforts so far and what needs to be done in order to maximize the clinical benefit we can derive from stem cells.

The potential of cytotherapeutics in hematologic reconstitution and in the treatment and prophylaxis of graft-versus-host disease. Chapter II: emerging transformational cytotherapies

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a life-saving treatment for inherited anemias, immunodeficiencies or hematologic malignancies. A major complication of allo-HSCT associated with high transplant-related mortality rates is graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). Current and future clinical benefits in HSCT enabled by advances in hematopoietic stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, Tregs and natural killer cells technologies are reviewed here and discussed. Among these evolutions, based on the need for mesenchymal stem cells to be recruited by an inflammatory environment, the development and use of novel GvHD biomarkers could be explored further to deliver the right pharmaceutical to the right patient at the right time. The successful commercialization of cytotherapeutics to efficiently manage GvHD will create a virtuous ‘halo’ effect for regenerative medicine.

Concise review: workshop review: understanding and assessing the risks of stem cell-based therapies

The field of stem cell therapeutics is moving ever closer to widespread application in the clinic. However, despite the undoubted potential held by these therapies, the balance between risk and benefit remains difficult to predict. As in any new field, a lack of previous application in man and gaps in the underlying science mean that regulators and investigators continue to look for a balance between minimizing potential risk and ensuring therapies are not needlessly kept from patients. Here, we attempt to identify the important safety issues, assessing the current advances in scientific knowledge and how they may translate to clinical therapeutic strategies in the identification and management of these risks. We also investigate the tools and techniques currently available to researchers during preclinical and clinical development of stem cell products, their utility and limitations, and how these tools may be strategically used in the development of these therapies. We conclude that ensuring safety through cutting-edge science and robust assays, coupled with regular and open discussions between regulators and academic/industrial investigators, is likely to prove the most fruitful route to ensuring the safest possible development of new products.

Characterizing the dielectric properties of human mesenchymal stem cells and the effects of charged elastin-like polypeptide copolymer treatment

HUMAN MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS (HMSCS) HAVE THREE KEY PROPERTIES THAT MAKE THEM DESIRABLE FOR STEM CELL THERAPEUTICS: differentiation capacity, trophic activity, and ability to self-renew. However, current separation techniques are inefficient, time consuming, expensive, and, in some cases, alter hMSCs cellular function and viability. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is a technique that uses alternating current electric fields to spatially separate biological cells based on the dielectric properties of their membrane and cytoplasm. This work implements the first steps toward the development of a continuous cell sorting microfluidic device by characterizing native hMSCs dielectric signatures and comparing them to hMSCs morphologically standardized with a polymer. A quadrapole Ti-Au electrode microdevice was used to observe hMSC DEP behaviors, and quantify frequency spectra and cross-over frequency of hMSCs from 0.010-35 MHz in dextrose buffer solutions (0.030 S/m and 0.10 S/m). This combined approach included a systematic parametric study to fit a core-shell model to the DEP spectra over the entire tested frequency range, adding robustness to the analysis technique. The membrane capacitance and permittivity were found to be 2.2 pF and 2.0 in 0.030 S/m and 4.5 pF and 4.1 in 0.10 S/m, respectively. Elastin-like polypeptide (ELP-) polyethyleneimine (PEI) copolymer was used to control hMSCs morphology to spheroidal cells and aggregates. Results demonstrated that ELP-PEI treatment controlled hMSCs morphology, increased experiment reproducibility, and concurrently increased hMSCs membrane permittivity to shift the cross-over frequency above 35 MHz. Therefore, ELP-PEI treatment may serve as a tool for the eventual determination of biosurface marker-dependent DEP signatures and hMSCs purification.

Enhancing the migration ability of mesenchymal stromal cells by targeting the SDF-1/CXCR4 axis

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are currently being investigated in numerous clinical trials of tissue repair and various immunological disorders based on their ability to secrete trophic factors and to modulate inflammatory responses. MSCs have been shown to migrate to sites of injury and inflammation in response to soluble mediators including the chemokine stromal cell-derived factor-(SDF-)1, but during in vitro culture expansion MSCs lose surface expression of key homing receptors particularly of the SDF-1 receptor, CXCR4. Here we review studies on enhancement of SDF-1-directed migration of MSCs with the premise that their improved recruitment could translate to therapeutic benefits. We describe our studies on approaches to increase the CXCR4 expression in in vitro-expanded cord blood-derived MSCs, namely, transfection, using the commercial liposomal reagent IBAfect, chemical treatment with the histone deacetylase inhibitor valproic acid, and exposure to recombinant complement component C1q. These methodologies will be presented in the context of other cell targeting and delivery strategies that exploit pathways involved in MSC migration. Taken together, these findings indicate that MSCs can be manipulated in vitro to enhance their in vivo recruitment and efficacy for tissue repair.

Perspectives on the use of stem cells for autism treatment

Autism and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are complex neurodevelopmental disorders. ASDs are clinically defined by deficits in communication, social skills, and repetitive and/or restrictive interests and behaviours. With the prevalence rates for ASDs rapidly increasing, the need for effective therapies for autism is a priority for biomedical research. Currently available medications do not target the core symptoms, can have markedly adverse side-effects, and are mainly palliative for negative behaviours. The development of molecular and regenerative interventions is progressing rapidly, and medicine holds great expectations for stem cell therapies. Cells could be designed to target the observed molecular mechanisms of ASDs, that is, abnormal neurotransmitter regulation, activated microglia, mitochondrial dysfunction, blood-brain barrier disruptions, and chronic intestinal inflammation. Presently, the paracrine, secretome, and immunomodulatory effects of stem cells would appear to be the likely mechanisms of application for ASD therapeutics. This review will focus on the potential use of the various types of stem cells: embryonic, induced pluripotential, fetal, and adult stem cells as targets for ASD therapeutics.

Perspectives on the use of stem cells for autism treatment

Autism and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are complex neurodevelopmental disorders. ASDs are clinically defined by deficits in communication, social skills, and repetitive and/or restrictive interests and behaviours. With the prevalence rates for ASDs rapidly increasing, the need for effective therapies for autism is a priority for biomedical research. Currently available medications do not target the core symptoms, can have markedly adverse side-effects, and are mainly palliative for negative behaviours. The development of molecular and regenerative interventions is progressing rapidly, and medicine holds great expectations for stem cell therapies. Cells could be designed to target the observed molecular mechanisms of ASDs, that is, abnormal neurotransmitter regulation, activated microglia, mitochondrial dysfunction, blood-brain barrier disruptions, and chronic intestinal inflammation. Presently, the paracrine, secretome, and immunomodulatory effects of stem cells would appear to be the likely mechanisms of application for ASD therapeutics. This review will focus on the potential use of the various types of stem cells: embryonic, induced pluripotential, fetal, and adult stem cells as targets for ASD therapeutics.