• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.724-731
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• 2015

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are characterized by their multipotency capacity, which allows them to differentiate into diverse cell types (bone, cartilage, fat, tendon, and neuron-like cells) and secrete a variety of trophic factors (ANG, FGF-2, HGF, IGF-1, PIGF, SDF-1α, TGF-β, and VEGF). MSCs can be easily isolated from human bone-marrow, fat, and umbilical-cord tissues. These features indicate that MSCs might be of use in stem-cell therapy. However, MSCs undergo cellular senescence during long-term expansion, and this is accompanied by functional declines in stem-cell potency. In the human body, because of their senescence and declines in their microenvironmental niches stem cells fail to maintain tissue homeostasis, and as a result, senescent cells accumulate in tissues. This can lead to age-related diseases, including degenerative disorders and cancers. Recent studies suggest that the number of histone modifications to stem cells’ genomes and aberrant alterations to their DNA methylation increase as stem cells progress into senescence. These epigenetic alterations have been partly reversed with treatments in which DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitors or histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors are introduced into replicative senescent-MSCs. This review focuses on epigenetic alteration in replicative senescent-MSCs and explains how epigenetic modifications are widely associated with stem-cell senescences such as differentiation, proliferation, migration, calcium signaling, and apoptosis.