Current Issue : October - December Volume : 2015 Issue Number : 4 Articles : 5 Articles
The human ocular surface (front surface of the eye) is formed by two different types of epithelia: the corneal epithelium centrally\nand the conjunctival epithelium that surrounds this. These two epithelia are maintained by different stem cell populations (limbal\nstem cells for the corneal epithelium and the conjunctival epithelial stem cells). In this review, we provide an update on our\nunderstanding of these epithelia and their stem cells systems, including embryology, new markers, and controversy around the\nlocation of these stem cells. We also provide an update on the translation of this understanding into clinical applications for the\ntreatment of debilitating ocular surface diseases...
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death and respiratory diseases are the third cause of death in industrialized countries;\nfor this reason the airways and cardiopulmonary system have been the focus of extensive investigation, in particular of the new\nemerging branch of regenerative medicine. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are a population of undifferentiated multipotent\nadult cells that naturally reside within the human body, which can differentiate into osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipogenic\nlineages when cultured in specific inducing media. MSCs have the ability to migrate and engraft at sites of inflammation and\ninjury in response to cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors at a wound site and they can exert local reparative effects\nthrough transdifferentiation and differentiation into specific cell types or via the paracrine secretion of soluble factors with antiinflammatory\nand wound-healing activities. Experimental and clinical evidence exists regarding MSCs efficacy in airway defects\nrestoration; although clinical MSCs use, in the daily practice, is not yet completely reached for airway diseases, we can argue that\nMSCs do not represent any more merely an experimental approach to airway tissue defects restoration but they can be considered\nas a ââ?¬Å?salvageââ?¬Â therapeutic tool in very selected patients and diseases....
Glioblastoma (GBM), the most common malignant brain tumor in adults, contains a subpopulation of cells with a stem-like\nphenotype (GS-cells). GS-cells can be maintained in vitro using serum-free medium supplemented with epidermal growth factor,\nbasic fibroblast growth factor-2, and heparin. However, this method does not conserve amplification of the Epidermal Growth\nFactor Receptor (EGFR) gene, which is present in over 50% of all newly diagnosed GBM cases. GS-cells with retained EGFR\namplification could overcome the limitations of current in vitro model systems and contribute significantly to preclinical research\non EGFR-targeted therapy. This review recapitulates recent methodological approaches to expand stem-like cells from GBM with\ndifferent EGFR status in order to maintain EGFR-dependent intratumoral heterogeneity in vitro. Further, it will summarize the\ncurrent knowledge about the impact of EGFR amplification and overexpression on the stem-like phenotype of GBM-derived GScells\nand different approaches to target the EGFR-dependent GS-cell compartment of GBM....
Tooth regeneration is considered to be an optimistic approach to replace current treatments for tooth loss. It is important to\ndetermine the most suitable seed cells for tooth regeneration. Recently, human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs)\nhave been regarded as a promising candidate for tissue regeneration. However, it has not been reported whether hUCMSCs can\nbe employed in tooth regeneration. Here, we report that hUCMSCs can be induced into odontoblast-like cells in vitro and in vivo.\nInduced hUCMSCs expressed dentin-related proteins including dentin sialoprotein (DSP) and dentin matrix protein-1 (DMP-1),\nand their gene expression levels were similar to those in native pulp tissue cells.Moreover, DSP- and DMP-1-positive calcifications\nwere observed after implantation of hUCMSCs in vivo.These findings reveal that hUCMSCs have an odontogenic differentiation\npotency to differentiate to odontoblast-like cells with characteristic deposition of dentin-like matrix in vivo. This study clearly\ndemonstrates hUCMSCs as an alternative therapeutic cell source for tooth regeneration...
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a central nervous system- (CNS-) related disorder for which there is yet no successful treatment.\nWithin the past several years, cell-based therapies have been explored for SCI repair, including the use of pluripotent human\nstem cells, and a number of adult-derived stem and mature cells such as mesenchymal stem cells, olfactory ensheathing cells,\nand Schwann cells. Although promising, cell transplantation is often overturned by the poor cell survival in the treatment\nof spinal cord injuries. Alternatively, the therapeutic role of different cells has been used in tissue engineering approaches by\nengrafting cells with biomaterials. The latter have the advantages of physically mimicking the CNS tissue, while promoting a more\npermissive environment for cell survival, growth, and differentiation. The roles of both cell- and biomaterial-based therapies as\nsingle therapeutic approaches for SCI repair will be discussed in this review.Moreover, as the multifactorial inhibitory environment\nof a SCI suggests that combinatorial approaches would be more effective, the importance of using biomaterials as cell carriers will\nbe herein highlighted, as well as the recent advances and achievements of these promising tools for neural tissue regeneration....
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