New insights into the heterogeneity and functional diversity of human mesenchymal stem cells
Issue title: Selected papers from the 6th China–France International Symposium “Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine” and the first meeting of the France–China International CNRS Network (GDRI) CeSMeR, Nancy, 10–13 July 2016
Guest editors: J.-F. Stoltz, J. Magdalou and D. Bensoussan
Affiliations: [a] National Engineering Center of Stem Cells, Institute of Hematology and Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, China | [b] Beijing Institute of Health and Stem Cells, Beijing, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Prof. Zhong Chao Han, Institute of Hematology and Hospital of Blood Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, 288 Nanjing Road, Tianjin 200090, China. E-mail: hanzhongchao@hotmail.com.
Abstract: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are being tested in several biological systems and clinical settings with the aim of exploring their therapeutic potentials for a variety of diseases. MSCs are also known to be heterogeneous populations with variable functions. In the context of this multidimensional complexity, a recurrent question is what source or population of MSCs is suitable for specific clinical indications. Here, we reported that the biological features of MSCs varied with the individual donor, the tissue source, the culture condition and the subpopulations. Placental chorionic villi (CV) derived MSCs exhibited superior activities of immunomodulation and pro-angiogenesis compared to MSCs derived from bone marrow (BM), adipose and umbilical cord (UC). We identified a subpopulation of CD106(VCAM-1)+MSCs, which are present richly in placental CV, moderately in BM, and lowly in adipose and UC. The CD106+MSCs possess significantly increased immunomodutory and pro-angiogenic activities compared to CD106−MSCs. Analysis of gene expression and cytokine secretion revealed that CD106+MSCs highly expressed several immnumodulatory and pro-angiogenic cytokines. Our data offer new insights on the identification and selection of suitable source or population of MSCs for clinical applications. Further efforts should be concentrated on standardizing methods which will ultimately allow the validation of MSC products with defined biomarkers as predictive of potency in suitable pre-clinical models and clinical settings.
