Current Stem Cell Research & Therapy - Volume 16, Issue 8, 2021

Bone is a hard but dynamic organ that is constantly remodeled throughout the life process. The dynamic balance between bone resorption and bone formation is very important. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have self-renewal and pluripotent differentiation; therefore, their roles as the promising tool for the treatment of osteoporosis and other diseases have become the focus in regenerative medicine in recent years. Over the past years, histone methylation has been recognized as a major player in the regulation of osteogenic differentiation of MSC. In this review, we highlight the recent research progress of histone methylation modification and its possible involvement in MSC osteogenesis.

Background: Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (ALLO-HSCT) is a potentially curative approach to treat β-thalassemia major (β-TM). Objective and Methods: To assess the quality of life (QOL) of patients with β-TM after ALLO-HSCT, we searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and MEDLINE for articles on the quality of life (QOL) of patients with β-TM from 1 Feb 2020 to 31 Mar 2020. Results: Our review revealed that the QOL of patients with β-TM after ALLO-HSCT from a sibling donor is higher than that of patients that received blood infusion and iron-chelating therapy. Survivors of ALLO-HSCT have a QOL as good as that of a healthy population and the ability to return to normal life. However, studies thus far are limited to investigations with a few patients with β-TM who received ALLO-HSCT of the bone marrow (BM) from a sibling donor or related donor. Graft vs. host disease, patient age, gender, sexual desire, health condition, psychological state, financial and employment stress, and social support contributed to a worse QOL after ALLO-HSCT. Medicine usage, physical therapy, and psychological intervention may help improve the decline in QOL related to ALLO-HSCT in patients with β-TM. Conclusion: Doctors and nurses must focus on implementing medicine usage, physical therapy, and psychological intervention to improve the decline in QOL related to ALLO-HSCT.

Background: Injection of autologous mesenchymal stem cells (AMSCs) as stromal vascular fraction, culture expanded adipose derived stem cells, minimally manipulated fat graft, bone marrow aspirate or cultured bone marrow MSCs, for osteo- and inflammatory arthritis have shown good clinical efficacy in many studies. Questions have been raised as to their safety despite no evidence known to us that they are unsafe when used this way. We hypothesized that AMSC injections are completely safe for the treatment of arthritis. Methods: A PubMed literature search was performed to identify adverse events specifically related to the injection of autologous mesenchymal or hematopoietic stem cells into arthritic joints or intravenously. Results: 2,011 reported injections were found. No stem cell specific adverse events were identified. Specifically no infections, tumorigenesis, or chondrolysis from collagenase were found. Conclusion: Intra-articular injection of autologous mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of arthritis is completely safe with no stem cell specific adverse events yet documented, and no increased risk compared with other traditional treatments for arthritis.

Due to the lack of vascular distribution and the slow metabolism, cartilage tissue cannot repair itself, which remains a huge challenge in cartilage regeneration. Tissue engineering using stem cells appears to be a promising method for cartilage repair. Tissue engineers demonstrated that mechanical stimulation can enhance the quality of engineered cartilage, making it more similar to natural cartilage in structure and function. In this review, we summarize recent studies on the role of mechanical stimuli in chondrogenesis, focusing on the applications of extrinsic mechanical loading and the studies on mechanical properties of biomaterials in cartilage tissue engineering. This review will provide fresh insights into the potential use of mechanical stimuli for clinical use.

Bone regeneration is a critical problem in modern clinical practice. Osteocytes are the most abundant cell population of mature adult bone that play a major role in the regulation of bone formation. In humans, segmental bone defects cannot be repaired by endogenous regenerative mechanisms. Bone tissue engineering (BTE) is a promising option for the treatment of difficult segmental and skeletal defects. BTE requires suitable cell sources with rapid expansion and adequate function, inducible factors, and scaffolds to successfully regenerate or repair the bone injury. To overcome the disadvantages of using allogeneic and autologous tissue grafts, stem cell-based therapy has progressed in regenerative medicine. In the past few decades, numerous attempts have been made to generate osteocytes by using pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) to repair and regenerate bone defects. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are PSCs that can self-renew and differentiate into a variety of cell types. Reprogramming of human somatic cells into hiPSCs provides a new opportunity for regenerative medicine, cell-based drug discovery, disease modeling, and toxicity assessment. The ability to differentiate hiPSCs from mesenchymal stem cells (iPSC-MSCs) is essential for treating bone-related damages and injuries. Several in vitro studies revealed that the cell origin of iPSCs, a combination of transcription factors, the type of promoter in the vector, transduction methods, scaffolds, differentiating techniques, and culture medium, may affect the osteogenic differentiation potential of hiPSCs. This review will focus on several factors that influence the osteogenic differentiation of human iPSCs.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease and is a major culprit that harms the health of elderly people. The main pathological feature is the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta of the midbrain. The current mainstream therapeutic strategies include surgical treatment and medicine substitute therapy. However, these treatment methods sometimes have limitations. Subsequently, the treatment with stem cells (SCs) transplantation has been gradually established. SCs is a kind of cell with self-renewal ability and multi-directional differentiation potential. Transplantation of SCs, including embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells (neural stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells) and induced pluripotent stem cells, have the ability to mediate nerve regeneration and restoration within the lesioned midbrain tissue, bringing hope for the treatment of PD. In this paper, we summarize the progress in therapeutic strategies of different types of SCs in PD treatment, with an emphasis on the advantages and limitations.

Recent evidence confirms that not each tumor cell is proficient in instigating a tumor. Merely a small part of the cancer cells, so-called cancer stem cells (CSCs), can produce cancer indistinguishable from the first one. CSC model has been recognized as a cellular component that adds to phenotypic and functional heterogeneity in different cancers. The latest explanations have featured numerous complexities and difficulties like CSC phenotype that can differ extensively between patients. Tumors may harbor various phenotypically or genetically specific CSCs, and consequently, metastatic CSCs can develop from vital CSCs and tumor cells. Scientists have discovered a few markers for CSCs. The recent finding reveals that CSCs are resistant to radiotherapy and chemotherapy and may clarify the disease's reappearance. Minimal amounts of CSCs can repopulate a tumor. Subsequently, it is essential to understand the attributes and mechanisms by which CSCs show their resistance to therapeutic agents. These aptitudes contribute to new bits of knowledge that give better therapeutic motivations to discover novel anticancer therapeutics. Accordingly, remedial procedures that emphasize focusing on CSCs and their microenvironmental niche are insufficient for conventional malignant growth treatments to eradicate the CSCs that, in any case, bring about therapy resistance. Mutual utilization of traditional therapies with CSC- specific agents may offer a promising technique for enduring cancer treatment as well as remedy.

Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) are adult multipotent cells with self-renewal potential and the ability to differentiate into specialized cells. MSCs home in various tissues and can be isolated using simple methods. Because of this feasibility in the isolation and culture of MSCs in vitro, many scientists have focused on the therapeutic applications of MSCs for various diseases and conditions. The selection of the tissue source to obtain MSCs mainly depends on the availability of the tissue, the patient’s health status, as well as the expertise of the researcher. However, some studies indicate that MSCs derived from different tissue sources are not the same and possess different regenerative capacities. Therefore, in this review, we have collected and summarized the results from studies that have performed head-to-head comparisons between MSCs isolated from different tissues. Despite the assessment method discrepancy between studies, results from these studies reveal that MSCs derived from different tissue sources are not the same. Some such as umbilical cord-derived MSCs and menstrual blood-derived MSCs were identified with robust angiogenic potentials. However, cord blood-derived MSCs possessed a strong cartilage repair capacity. Further investigations are required to establish certain capabilities for MSCs derived from a particular tissue origin. Nevertheless, it is recommended to consider the possibility of functional variations between MSCs isolated from distinct tissue origins when applying MSCs in clinics.

Neurological diseases have different etiological causes. Contemporary, developing an effective treatment for these diseases is an ongoing challenge. Cell therapy is recognized as one of the promising solutions for the treatment of these diseases. Amongst various types of stem cells, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSC) are known to be the most widely used stem cells. These cells are endowed with appealing properties such as the ability to differentiate into other cell types, including the muscle, liver, glial, and nerve cells. In this review study, we have systematically evaluated the ability of a variety of chemical compounds used in the last ten years to differentiate BM-MSCs into neurons by examining the expression level of beta-tubulin 3 protein. The present study is a systematic search performed at three separate databases, including PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Embase from August 2009 to August 2019. The search results in the three mentioned databases were 323 articles and finally, 8 articles were selected and carefully examined considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results showed that different chemical compounds such as ROCK inhibitors, sex steroid hormones, bFGF, NGF, Noggin, 4 OHT, TSA, VPA, Antidepressants, Neurosteroids (Dex and E2), and DHA are involved in different signaling pathways, such as ERK, AKT, BMP, DHA / GPR40, Rho-dependent phosphorylation, and histone deacetylase inhibitors. Further investigation of these signaling pathways may open the way for better differentiation of BM-MSCs into neurons.

Aim: Different studies have been performed to investigate stem cell administration as a promising tool for recovery of injured tissue in multiple sclerosis (MS), the most common demyelinating disease. Methods: In the present systematic review, the electronic databases of PubMed and ScienceDirect were searched to screen English language studies published until April 2020. Results: The results obtained from experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) animals revealed that modified mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transplantation was associated with remyelination, inflammation suppression and oligodendrocyte precursor cells regeneration. Clinical trials indicated that 70% of the patients with MS showed disease stabilization following MSCs administration. Conclusion: Although MSC therapy has showed to be effective in the improvement of some patients with MS, designing larger placebo-controlled clinical trials with MSCs expressing immune- regulators or MSCs-exosomes may provide a novel viewpoint in the treatment of MS.