Recovery and maintenance of NESTIN expression in umbilical cord-MSC using a novel culture medium

Stem Cell Therapy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Review of Achievements and Challenges

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), is a group of chronic inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Repeated inflammation can lead to complications, such as intestinal fistula, obstruction, perforation, and bleeding. Unfortunately, achieving durable remission and mucosal healing (MH) with current treatments is difficult. Stem cells (SCs) have the potential to modulate immunity, suppress inflammation, and have anti-apoptotic and pro-angiogenic effects, making them an ideal therapeutic strategy to target chronic inflammation and intestinal damage in IBD. In recent years, hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown efficacy in treating IBD. In addition, numerous clinical trials have evaluated the efficiency of MSCs in treating the disease. This review summarizes the current research progress on the safety and efficacy of SC-based therapy for IBD in both preclinical models and clinical trials. We discuss potential mechanisms of SC therapy, including tissue repair, paracrine effects, and the promotion of angiogenesis, immune regulation, and anti-inflammatory effects. We also summarize current SC engineering strategies aimed at enhancing the immunosuppressive and regenerative capabilities of SCs for treating intestinal diseases. Additionally, we highlight current limitations and future perspectives of SC-related therapy for IBD.

Human Platelet Lysate Maintains Stemness of Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells and Promote Lung Repair in Rat Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) show potential for treating preclinical models of newborn bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), but studies of their therapeutic effectiveness have had mixed results, in part due to the use of different media supplements for MSCs expansion in vitro. The current study sought to identify an optimal culture supplement of umbilical cord-derived MSCs (UC-MSCs) for BPD therapy. In this study, we found that UC-MSCs cultured with human platelet lysate (hPL-UCMSCs) were maintained a small size from Passage 1 (P1) to P10, while UC-MSCs cultured with fetal bovine serum (FBS-UCMSCs) became wide and flat. Furthermore, hPL was associated with lower levels of senescence in UC-MSCs during in vitro expansion compared with FBS, as indicated by the results of β-galactosidase staining and measures of senescence-related genes (CDKN2A, CDKN1A, and mTOR). In addition, hPL enhanced the proliferation and cell viability of the UC-MSCs and reduced their doubling time in vitro. Compared with FBS-UCMSCs, hPL-UCMSCs have a greater potential to differentiate into osteocytes and chondrocytes. Moreover, using hPL resulted in greater expression of Nestin and specific paracrine factors (VEGF, TGF-β1, FGF2, IL-8, and IL-6) in UC-MSCs compared to using FBS. Critically, we also found that hPL-UCMSCs are more effective than FBS-UCMSCs for the treatment of BPD in a rat model, with hPL leading to improvements in survival rate, lung architecture and fibrosis, and lung capillary density. Finally, qPCR of rat lung mRNA demonstrated that hPL-UCMSCs had lower expression levels of inflammatory factors (TNF-α and IL-1β) and a key chemokine (MCP-1) at postnatal day 10, and there was significant reduction of CD68+ macrophages in lung tissue after hPL-UCMSCs transplantation. Altogether, our findings suggest that hPL is an optimal culture supplement for UC-MSCs expansion in vitro, and that hPL-UCMSCs promote lung repair in rat BPD disease.

Improving the Efficacy of Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal-Based Therapy for Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) consisting of persistent and relapsing inflammatory processes of the intestinal mucosa are caused by genetic, environmental, and commensal microbiota factors. Despite recent advances in clinical treatments aiming to decrease inflammation, nearly 30% of patients treated with biologicals experienced drawbacks including loss of response, while others can develop severe side effects. Hence, novel effective treatments are highly needed. Mesenchymal stem/stromal cell (MSCs) therapy is an innovative therapeutic alternative currently under investigation for IBD. MSCs have the inherent capacity of modulating inflammatory immune responses as well as regenerating damaged tissues and are therefore a prime candidate to use as cell therapy in patients with IBD. At present, MSC-based therapy has been shown preclinically to modulate intestinal inflammation, whilst the safety of MSC-based therapy has been demonstrated in clinical trials. However, the successful results in preclinical studies have not been replicated in clinical trials. In this review, we will summarize the protocols used in preclinical and clinical trials and the novel approaches currently under investigation which aim to increase the beneficial effects of MSC-based therapy for IBD.

Therapeutic Potential of Niche-Specific Mesenchymal Stromal Cells for Spinal Cord Injury Repair

The use of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) for transplant-mediated repair represents an important and promising therapeutic strategy after spinal cord injury (SCI). The appeal of MSCs has been fuelled by their ease of isolation, immunosuppressive properties, and low immunogenicity, alongside the large variety of available tissue sources. However, despite reported similarities in vitro, MSCs sourced from distinct tissues may not have comparable biological properties in vivo. There is accumulating evidence that stemness, plasticity, immunogenicity, and adaptability of stem cells is largely controlled by tissue niche. The extrinsic impact of cellular niche for MSC repair potential is therefore important, not least because of its impact on ex vivo expansion for therapeutic purposes. It is likely certain niche-targeted MSCs are more suited for SCI transplant-mediated repair due to their intrinsic capabilities, such as inherent neurogenic properties. In addition, the various MSC anatomical locations means that differences in harvest and culture procedures can make cross-comparison of pre-clinical data difficult. Since a clinical grade MSC product is inextricably linked with its manufacture, it is imperative that cells can be made relatively easily using appropriate materials. We discuss these issues and highlight the importance of identifying the appropriate niche-specific MSC type for SCI repair.