Abstract
Adult stem cells have attracted scientific attention because they are able to self-renew and differentiate into several specialized cell types. In this context, human dental tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hDT-MSCs) have emerged as a possible solution for repairing or regenerating damaged tissues. These cells can be isolated from primary teeth that are naturally replaced, third molars, or other dental tissues and exhibit self-renewal, a high proliferative rate and a great multilineage potential. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms that determine lineage specification are still largely unknown. It is known that a change in cell fate requires the deletion of existing transcriptional programs, followed by the establishment of a new developmental program to give rise to a new cell lineage. Increasing evidence indicates that chromatin structure conformation can influence cell fate. In this way, reversible chemical modifications at the DNA or histone level, and combinations thereof can activate or inactivate cell-type-specific gene sequences, giving rise to an alternative cell fates. On the other hand, miRNAs are starting to emerge as a possible player in establishing particular somatic lineages. In this review, we discuss two new and promising research fields in medicine and biology, epigenetics and stem cells, by summarizing the properties of hDT-MSCs and highlighting the recent findings on epigenetic contributions to the regulation of cellular differentiation.
Highlights
Human life begins with a single totipotent cell that divides into two equal cells, four, eight, and so on until the morula arises
It has been reported that a population of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have similar characteristics to human ES cells (Kerkis et al, 2006). These MSCs, designated immature dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) (IDPSCs), display several pluripotency markers (OCT4, SSEA3, SSEA-4, TRA-1-60, TRA-1-80, and NANOG), and they are induced to differentiate into neuronal cells, chondrocytes, osteocytes, and myocytes (Kerkis et al, 2006; Lizier et al, 2012), suggesting that multiple niches of SCs might be present in dental pulp (DP) tissue, which could contribute to different levels of cell plasticity over time (Lizier et al, 2012)
DPSCs seeded on a titanium implant surface were shown to exhibit enhanced osteogenic differentiation. It seems that titanium implants induced the upregulation of miR-196a, which repressed the transcriptional activity of HOMEOBOX C8 (HOXC8) and inhibited cell proliferation, promoting the osteogenic differentiation of DPSCs
Summary
Human life begins with a single totipotent cell (zygote) that divides into two equal cells, four, eight, and so on until the morula arises. Human dental tissues, including the dental pulp, dental follicle, periodontal ligament, bone marrow, and others (Figure 1), have been identified as a promising source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).
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