Behrouznezhad F, Ejeian F, Emadi-Baygi M, Nikpour P, Nasr-Esfahani MH. Hypothesis: A Challenge of Overexpression Zfp521 in Neural Tendency of Derived Dental Pulp Stem Cells.
Cell J 2018;
21:99-102. [PMID:
30507095 PMCID:
PMC6275419 DOI:
10.22074/cellj.2019.5600]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2017] [Accepted: 04/21/2018] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Neurodegenerative diseases have now become a major challenge, especially in aged societies. Most of the traditional
strategies used for treatment of these diseases are untargeted and have little efficiency. Developments in stem cell
investigations have given much attention to cell therapy as an alternative concept in the regeneration of neural tissues.
Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) can be readily obtained by noninvasive procedures and have been shown to possess
properties similar to well-known mesenchymal stem cells. Furthermore, based on their neural crest origin, DPSCs
are considered to have a good potential to differentiate into neural cells. Zfp521 is a transcription factor that regulates
expression of many genes, including ones involved in the neural differentiation process. Therefor based on neural crest
origin of the cell and high expression of neural progenitor markers, we speculate that sole overexpression of Zfp521
protein can facilitate differentiation of dental stem cells to neural cells and researchers may find these cells suitable for
therapeutic treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
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