Human Wharton's Jelly-Cellular Specificity, Stemness Potency, Animal Models, and Current Application in Human Clinical Trials

Overview

Journal J Clin Med

Specialty General Medicine

Date 2020 Apr 16

PMID 32290584

Citations 25

Authors

Katarzyna Stefanska

Katarzyna Ozegowska

Greg Hutchings

Malgorzata Popis

Lisa Moncrieff

Claudia Dompe

Krzysztof Janowicz

Wojciech Pienkowski

Pawel Gutaj

Jamil A Shibli

Walterson Mathias Prado

Hanna Piotrowska-Kempisty

Paul Mozdziak

Malgorzata Bruska

Maciej Zabel

Bartosz Kempisty

Michal Nowicki

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Stem cell therapies offer a great promise for regenerative and reconstructive medicine, due to their self-renewal and differentiation capacity. Although embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, their utilization involves embryo destruction and is ethically controversial. Therefore, adult tissues that have emerged as an alternative source of stem cells and perinatal tissues, such as the umbilical cord, appear to be particularly attractive. Wharton's jelly, a gelatinous connective tissue contained in the umbilical cord, is abundant in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that express CD105, CD73, CD90, Oct-4, Sox-2, and Nanog among others, and have the ability to differentiate into osteogenic, adipogenic, chondrogenic, and other lineages. Moreover, Wharton's jelly-derived MSCs (WJ-MSCs) do not express MHC-II and exhibit immunomodulatory properties, which makes them a good alternative for allogeneic and xenogeneic transplantations in cellular therapies. Therefore, umbilical cord, especially Wharton's jelly, is a promising source of mesenchymal stem cells.

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