• Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.699-709
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• 2018

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus is a major health concern in current scenario which has been found to affect people of almost all ages. The disease has huge impact on global health; therefore, alternate methods apart from insulin injection are being explored to cure diabetes. Therefore, this review mainly focuses on the current status and therapeutic potential of stem cells mainly mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for Type 1 diabetes mellitus in preclinical animal models as well as humans. METHODS: Current treatment for Type 1 diabetes mellitus mainly includes use of insulin which has its own limitations and also the underlying mechanism of diseases is still not explored. Therefore, alternate methods to cure diabetes are being explored. Stem cells are being investigated as an alternative therapy for treatment of various diseases including diabetes. Few preclinical studies have also been conducted using undifferentiated MSCs as well as in vitro MSCs differentiated into ${\beta}$ islet cells. RESULTS: These stem cell transplant studies have highlighted the benefits of MSCs, which have shown promising results. Few human trials using stem cells have also affirmed the potential of these cells in alleviating the symptoms. CONCLUSION: Stem cell transplantation may prove to be a safe and effective treatment for patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.133-141
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• 2019

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are known to differentiate into multiple lineages, making neurogenic differentiation an important target in the clinical field. In the present study, we induced the neurogenic differentiation of cells using histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors and studied their mechanisms for further differentiation in vitro. We treated cells with the HDAC inhibitors, MS-275 and NaB; and found that the cells had neuron-like features such as distinct bipolar or multipolar morphologies with branched processes. The mRNA expressions encoding for NEFL, MAP2, TUJ1, OLIG2, and SYT was significantly increased following HDAC inhibitors treatment compared to without HDAC inhibitors; high protein levels of MAP2 and Tuj1 were detected by immunofluorescence staining. We examined the mechanisms of differentiation and found that the Wnt signaling pathway and downstream mitogen-activate protein kinase were involved in neurogenic differentiation of MSCs. Importantly, Wnt4, Wnt5a/b, and Wnt11 protein levels were highly increased after treatment with NaB; signals were activated through the regulation of Dvl2 and Dvl3. Interestingly, NaB treatment increased the levels of JNK and upregulated JNK phosphorylation. After MS-275 treatment, Wnt protein levels were decreased and GSK-3β was phosphorylated. In this cell, HDAC inhibitors controlled the non-canonical Wnt expression by activating JNK phosphorylation and the canonical Wnt signaling by targeting GSK-3β.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.233-241
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• 2010

Human adipose stem cells are an abundant, readily available population of multipotent progenitor cells that reside in adipose tissue and these cells have characteristics very similar to bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (BMMSCs). However, liposuction procedure, donor age, body mass index, and harvesting sites might generate differences in the initial cell population and the preparations are a heterogeneous mixture of precursors with different subsets. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the characteristics of human thigh adipose stem cells and the differentiation potential into mesodermal and endodermal lineage. Thigh adipose stem cells maintained fibroblast-like morphology similar to BM-MSCs and they underwent average 56.5 doublings and produced $5{\times}10^{22}$ cells. These cells expressed SCF, Oct4, nanog, vimentin, CK18, FGF5, NCAM, Pax6, BMP4, HNF4a, nestin, GATA4, HLA-ABC, and HLA-DR genes at p3 and they also expressed Oct4, Thy-1, FSP, vWF, vimentin, desmin, CK18, CD54, CD4, CD106, CD31, a-SMA, HLA-ABC proteins. Moreover, they could differentiate into mesodermal lineage cells such as adipocyte, osteoblast and chondrocyte. In addition, they also differentiated into insulin secreting cells in our culture condition. In conclusion, human thigh adipose stem cells retain proliferative potential and expression patterns similar to BM-MSCs and they also differentiate into various cell types. Thus, human thigh adipose stem cells might be useful alternative cell source for clinical application.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.20-20
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• 2011

It has been known that, under certain conditions, application of low-temperature atmospheric-pressure plasmas can enhance proliferation of cells. In this study, conditions for optimal cell proliferation were examined for various cells relevant for orthopaedic applications. Plasmas used in our experiments were generated by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) with a helium flow (of approximately 3 litter/min) into ambient air at atmospheric pressure by a 10 kV~20 kHz power supply. Such plasmas were directly applied to a medium, in which cells of interest were cultured. The cells examined in this study were human synoviocytes, rat mesenchymal stem cells derived from bone marrow or adipose tissue, a mouse osteoblastic cell line (MC3T3-E1), a mouse embryonic mesenchymal cell line (C3H-10T1/2), human osteosarcoma cells (HOS), a mouse myoblast cell line (C2C12), and rat Schwann cells. Since cell proliferation can be enhanced even if the cells are not directly exposed to plasmas but cultured in a medium that is pre-treated by plasma application, it is surmised that long-life free radicals generated in the medium by plasma application stimulate cell proliferation if their densities are appropriate. The level of free radical generation in the medium was examined by dROMs tests and correlation between cell proliferation and oxidative stress was observed. Other applications of plasma medicine in orthopaedics, such as plasma modification of artificial bones and wound healing effects by direct plasma application for mouse models, will be also discussed. The work has been done in collaboration with Prof. H. Yoshikawa and his group members at the School of Medicine, Osaka University.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.511-519
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• 2006

Autogenous bone grafts have been considered the gold standard for maxillofacial bony defects. However, this procedure could entail a complicated surgical procedure as well as potential donor site morbidity. Possibly the best solution for bone-defect regeneration is a tissue engineering approach, i.e. the use of a combination of a suitable scaffold with osteogenic cells. A major source of osteogenic cells is the bone marrow. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells are multipotent and have the ability to differentiate into osteoblastic, chondrocytic, and adipocytic lineage cells. However, the isolation of cells from bone marrow has someproblems when used in clinical setting. Bone marrow aspiration is sometimes potentially more invasive and painful procedure and carries of a risk of morbidity and infection. A minimally invasive, easily accessible alternative would be cells derived from periosteum. The periosteum also contains multipotent cells that have the potential to differentiate into osteoblasts and chondrocytes. In the present study, we evaluated the osteogenic activity and mineralization of cultured human periosteal-derived cells. Periosteal explants were harvested from mandibule during surgical extraction of lower impacted third molar. The periosteal cells were cultured in the osteogenic inductive medium consisting of DMEM supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum, 50g/ml L-ascorbic acid 2-phosphate, 10 nmol dexamethasone and 10 mM -glycerophosphate for 42 days. Periosteal-derived cells showed positive alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining during 42 days of culture period. The formation of ALP stain showed its maximal manifestation at day 14 of culture period, then decreased in intensity during the culture period. ALP mRNA expression increased up to day 14 with a decrease thereafter. Osteocalcin mRNA expression appeared at day 7 in culture, after that its expression continuously increased in a time-dependent manner up to the entire duration of culture. Von Kossa-positive mineralization nodules were first present at day 14 in culture followed by an increased number of positive nodules during the entire duration of the culture period. In conclusion, our study showed that cultured human periosteal-derived cells differentiated into active osteoblastic cells that were involved in synthesis of bone matrix and the subsequent mineralization of the matrix. As the periosteal-derived cells, easily harvested from intraoral procedure such as surgical extraction of impacted third molar, has the excellent potential of osteogenic capacity, tissue-engineered bone using periosteal-derived cells could be the best choice in reconstruction of maxillofacial bony defects.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.5 s.85
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• pp.678-686
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• 2007

Human mesenchymal stem cells(hMSC), that have been reported to be present in bone marrow, adipose tissues, dermis, muscles and peripheral blood, have the potential to differentiate along different lineages including those forming bone, cartilage, fat, muscle and neuron. Therefore, hMSC are attractive candidates for cell and gene therapy. The optimal conditions for hMSC expansion require medium supplemented with fetal bovine serum(FBS). Some forms of cell therapy will involve multiple doses, raising a concern over immunological reactions caused by medium-derived FBS proteins. Previously, we have shown that hADSC can be cultured in human serum(HS) during their isolation and expansion, and that they maintain their proliferative capacity and ability for multilineage differentiation and promote engraftment of peripheral blood-derived CD34 cells mobilized from bone marrow in NOD/SCID mice. In this study we determined whether hADSC grown in HS maintain surface markers expression similar with cells grown in FBS during culture expansion and compared gene expression profile by Affymetrix microarray. Flow cytometry analysis showed that HLA-DR, CD117, CD29 and CD44 expression in HS-cultured hADSC during culture expansion were similar with that in FBS-cultured cells. However, the gene expression profile in HS-cultured hADSC was significantly different from that in FBS-cultured cells. Therefore, these data indicated that HS-cultured hADSC should be used in vivo animal study of hADSC transplantation for direct extrapolation of preclinical data into clinical application.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.143-151
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• 2010

Pluripotency of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) is one of the most valuable ability of hESCs for applying cell therapy field, but also showing side effect, for example teratoma formation. When transplant multipotent stem cell, such as mesnchymal stem cell (MSC) which retains similar differentiation ability, they do not form teratoma in vivo, but there exist limitation of cellular source supply. Accordingly, differentiation of hESC into MSC will be promising cellular source with strong points of both hESC and MSC line. In this study, we described the derivation of MSC like cell population from feeder free cultured hESC (hESC-MSC) using direct differentiation system. Cells population, hESC-MSC and bone marrow derived MSC (BM-MSC) retained similar characteristics in vitro, such as morphology, MSC specific marker expression and differentiation capacity. At the point of differentiation of both cell populations, differentiation rate was slower in hESC-MSC than BM-MSC. As these reason, to verify differentially expressed molecular condition of both cell population which bring out different differentiation rate, we compare the molecular condition of hESC-MSC and BM-MSC using 2-D proteomic analysis tool. In the proteomic analysis, we identified 49 differentially expressed proteins in hESC-MSC and BM-MSC, and they involved in different biological process such as positive regulation of molecular function, biological process, cellular metabolic process, nitrogen compound metabolic process, macromolecule metabolic process, metabolic process, molecular function, and positive regulation of molecular function and regulation of ubiquitin protein ligase activity during mitotic cell cycle, cellular response to stress, and RNA localization. As the related function of differentially expressed proteins, we sought to these proteins were key regulators which contribute to their differentiation rate, developmental process and cell proliferation. Our results suggest that the expressions of these proteins between the hESC-MSC and BM-MSC, could give to us further evidence for hESC differentiation into the mesenchymal stem cell is associated with a differentiation factor. As the initial step to understand fundamental difference of hESC-MSC and BM-MSC, we sought to investigate different protein expression profile. And the grafting of hESC differentiation into MSC and their comparative proteomic analysis will be positively contribute to cell therapy without cellular source limitation, also with exact background of their molecular condition.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.85-96
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• 2007

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are promising candidates for cell-based therapies. One major obstacle for their clinical use is the unsafety of fetal bovine serum (FBS), which is a crucial part of all media currently used for the culture of MSC. We investigated the effect of human cord serum (HCS) on the growth response, mRNA and protein expressions of human amnion-derived stem cells (HAM). HAM were isolated from the amnion after a Caesarean section and cultured in DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS, 5% HCS or 10% HCS. During culture, their biological characteristics at earlier and later passages were analyzed using RT-PCR and immunocytochemistry. Regardless of serum sources, HAM showed the prominent expression of Oct-4, Rex-1, SCF, FGF-5, BMP-4, nestin, GATA-4, NCAM and HLA ABC genes. The expression profile was observed even at later passages. Similarly, HAM cultured in either FBS or HCS exhibited the distinct protein expression of collagen I, II, III and XII, fibronectin, $\alpha$-smooth muscle actin, vimentin, CK18, CD54, FSP, TRA-1-60, SSEA-3, -4 and HLA ABC. However, desmin expression was only observed in HAM cultured in medium supplemented with FBS and vWF expression was only found in HAM cultured in medium supplemented with HCS. Overall pattern of gene and protein expression of HAM was typical of known adult stem cells such as bone marrow-derived MSC. In conclusion, HCS could be as effective as FBS for the culture of HAM.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.631-646
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• 2011

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are multipotent and can be isolated from diverse human tissues including bone marrow, fat, placenta, dental pulp, synovium, tonsil, and the thymus. They function as regulators of tissue homeostasis. Because of their various advantages such as plasticity, easy isolation and manipulation, chemotaxis to cancer, and immune regulatory function, MSCs have been considered to be a potent cell source for regenerative medicine, cancer treatment and other cell based therapy such as GVHD. However, relating to its supportive feature for surrounding cell and tissue, it has been frequently reported that MSCs accelerate tumor growth by modulating cancer microenvironment through promoting angiogenesis, secreting growth factors, and suppressing anti-tumorigenic immune reaction. Thus, clinical application of MSCs has been limited. To understand the underlying mechanism which modulates MSCs to function as tumor supportive cells, we co-cultured human adipose tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASC) with cancer cell lines H460 and U87MG. Then, expression data of ASCs co-cultured with cancer cells and cultured alone were obtained via microarray. Comparative expression analysis was carried out using DAVID (Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery) and PANTHER (Protein ANalysis THrough Evolutionary Relationships) in divers aspects including biological process, molecular function, cellular component, protein class, disease, tissue expression, and signal pathway. We found that cancer cells alter the expression profile of MSCs to cancer associated fibroblast like cells by modulating its energy metabolism, stemness, cell structure components, and paracrine effect in a variety of levels. These findings will improve the clinical efficacy and safety of MSCs based cell therapy.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.183-193
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• 2011

Migration and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells are crucial for tissue regeneration in response to injury. Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a bioactive lipid that regulates a variety of biological processes, including proliferation, survival, differentiation and motility. In the present study, we determined the role of S1P in migration and differentiation of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). S1P stimulated migration of BMSCs in a dose- and time-dependent manner, and pre-incubation of the cells with pertussis toxin completely abrogated S1P-induced migration, suggesting involvement of Gi-coupled receptors in S1P-induced cell migration. S1P elicited elevation of intracellular concentration of $Ca^{2+}$ ($[Ca^{2+}]_i$) and pretreatment with VPC23019, an antagonist of $S1P_1/S1P_3$, blocked S1P-induced migration and increase of $[Ca^{2+}]_i$. Small interfering RNA-mediated knockdown of endogenous $S1P_1$ attenuated S1P-induced migration of BMSCs. Furthermore, S1P treatment induced expression of $\alpha$-smooth muscle actin ($\alpha$-SMA), a smooth muscle marker, and pretreatment with VPC23019 abrogated S1P-induced $\alpha$-SMA expression. S1P induced phosphorylation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and pretreatment of cells with SB202190, an inhibitor of p38 MAPK, or adenoviral overexpression of a dominant-negative mutant of the p38 MAPK blocked S1P-induced cell migration and $\alpha$-SMA expression. Taken together, these results suggest that S1P stimulates migration and smooth muscle differentiation of BMSCs through an $S1P_1$-p38 MAPK-dependent mechanism.