Current Issue : October - December Volume : 2013 Issue Number : 4 Articles : 6 Articles
Umbilical cord blood banking efforts have increased dramatically in the past two decades in response to increasing demand for\r\nalternative sources of blood stem cells to support patients requiring hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Transplant centres have\r\naccumulated increasing expertise in their understanding of umbilical cord blood characteristics that are associated with improved\r\noutcome following transplantation. These characteristics and factors can assist transplant centres in selecting cord blood units from\r\nthe worldwide inventory of banked units. Umbilical cord blood banks, therefore, need to remain agile in adjusting the inventory\r\nof the banks to address shifts or changes in the needs of transplant centres. Public umbilical cord blood banks face the challenge of\r\nbuilding inventory while managing limited resources and are faced with decisions regarding which units can be stored and which\r\nunits that have been collected should be discarded or used for other endeavours such as research. To this end, we sought to review\r\nparameters influencing the decision to bank a collected cord blood unit. In this paper, we will address parameters associated with\r\ngraft potency and address other factors that guide the decision to bank collected units....
Bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the potential to differentiate into a number of phenotypes, including\r\nadipocytes. Adipogenic differentiation has traditionally been performed in monolayer culture, and, while the expression of a fatcell\r\nphenotype can be achieved, this culture method is labor and material intensive and results in only small numbers of fragile\r\nadherent cells, which are not very useful for further applications. Aggregate culture is a cell-culture technique in which cells are\r\ninduced to form three-dimensional aggregates; this method has previously been used successfully, among others, to induce and\r\nstudy chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs. We have previously published an adaptation of the chondrogenic aggregate culture\r\nmethod to a 96-well plate format. Based on the success of this method, we have used the same format for the preparation of threedimensional\r\nadipogenic cultures. ?e MSCs differentiate rapidly, the aggregates can be handled and processed for histologic and\r\nbiochemical assays with ease, and the format offers signi??cant savings in supplies and labor. As a differentiation assay, this method\r\ncan distinguish between degrees of senescence and appears suitable for testing medium or drug formulations in a high-volume,\r\nhigh-throughput fashion....
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are prototypical adult stem cells with the capacity for self-renewal and differentiation with a broad\r\ntissue distribution. MSCs not only differentiate into types of cells of mesodermal lineage but also into endodermal and ectodermal\r\nlineages such as bone, fat, cartilage and cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, lung epithelial cells, hepatocytes, neurons, and pancreatic\r\nislets. MSCs have been identified as an adherent, fibroblast-like population and can be isolated fromdifferent adult tissues, including\r\nbone marrow (BM), umbilical cord, skeletal muscle, and adipose tissue. MSCs secrete factors, including IL-6, M-CSF, IL-10, HGF,\r\nand PGE2, that promote tissue repair, stimulate proliferation and differentiation of endogenous tissue progenitors, and decrease\r\ninflammatory and immune reactions. In this paper, we focus on the role of BM-derived MSCs in organ repair....
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is one of the world�s top ten most common cancers. Current survival rates are\r\npoor with only 50% of patients expected to survive five years after diagnosis. The poor survival rate of HNSCC is partly attributable\r\nto the tendency for diagnosis at the late stage of the disease. One of the reasons for treatment failure is thought to be related to the\r\npresence of a subpopulation of cells within the tumour called cancer stem cells (CSCs). CSCs display stem cell-like characteristics\r\nthat impart resistance to conventional treatment modalities and promote tumour initiation, progression, and metastasis. Specific\r\nmarkers for this population have been investigated in the hope of developing a deeper understanding of their role in the pathogenesis\r\nof HNSCC and elucidating novel therapeutic strategies....
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are somatic cells with a dual capacity for self-renewal and differentiation, and diverse therapeutic\r\napplicability, both experimentally and in the clinic. These cells can be isolated from various human tissues that may differ\r\nanatomically or developmentally with relative ease. Heterogeneity due to biological origin or in vitro manipulation is, nevertheless,\r\nconsiderable and may equate to differences in qualitative and quantitative characteristics which can prove crucial for successful\r\ntherapeutic use.With this in mind, in the present study we have evaluated the proliferation kinetics and phenotypic characteristics\r\nof MSCs derived from two abundant sources, that is, fetal umbilical cord matrix (Wharton�s jelly) and adult adipose tissue\r\n(termed WJSC and ADSC, resp.) during prolonged in vitro expansion, a process necessary for obtaining cell numbers sufficient\r\nfor clinical application. Our results show that WJSC are derived with relatively high efficiency and bear a substantially increased\r\nproliferation capacity whilst largely sustaining the expression of typical immunophenotypic markers, whereas ADSC exhibit a\r\nreduced proliferation potential showing typical signs of senescence at an early stage. By combining kinetic with phenotypic data we\r\nidentify culture thresholds up to which both cell types maintain their stem properties, and we discuss the practical implications of\r\ntheir differences....
The characterization of human stem cells for the usability in regenerative medicine is particularly based on investigations regarding\r\ntheir differentiation potential in vivo. In this regard, the chicken embryo model represents an ideal model organism. However,\r\nthe access to the chicken embryo is only achievable by windowing the eggshell resulting in limited visibility and accessibility in\r\nsubsequent experiments. On the contrary, ex ovo-culture systems avoid such negative side effects. Here, we present an improved\r\nex ovo-cultivation method enabling the embryos to survive 13 days in vitro. Optimized cultivation of chicken embryos resulted\r\nin a normal development regarding their size and weight. Our ex ovo-approach closely resembles the development of chicken\r\nembryos in ovo, as demonstrated by properly developed nervous system, bones, and cartilage at expected time points. Finally, we\r\ninvestigated the usability of our method for trans-species transplantation of adult stemcells by injecting human neural crest-derived\r\nstem cells into late Hamburger and Hamilton stages (HH26ââ?¬â??HH28/E5ââ?¬â?E6) of ex ovo-incubated embryos. We demonstrated the\r\nintegration of human cells allowing experimentally easy investigation of the differentiation potential in the proper developmental\r\ncontext. Taken together, this ex ovo-method supports the prolonged cultivation of properly developing chicken embryos enabling\r\nintegration studies of xenografted mammalian stem cells at late developmental stages....
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