Abstract
Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are a heterogeneous population of adult stem cells, which are multipotent and possess the ability to differentiate/transdifferentiate into mesodermal and nonmesodermal cell lineages. MSCs display broad immunomodulatory properties since they are capable of secreting growth factors and chemotactic cytokines. Safety, accessibility, and isolation from patients without ethical concern make MSCs valuable sources for cell therapy approaches in autoimmune, inflammatory, and degenerative diseases. Many studies have been conducted on the application of MSCs as a new therapy, but it seems that a low percentage of them is related to clinical trials, especially completed clinical trials. Considering the importance of clinical trials to develop this type of therapy as a new treatment, the current paper is aimed at describing characteristics of MSCs and reviewing relevant clinical studies registered on the NIH database during 2016-2020 to discuss recent advances on MSC-based therapeutic approaches being used in different diseases.
Highlights
Stem cells refer to a population of undifferentiated cells that are potent for proliferation, differentiation, and self-renewal [1]
Stem Cells International several different cell types within a single germ layer. If they differentiate into cell types from all three germ layers, namely, ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm, and functional gametes, they are called pluripotent stem cells [3]
Embryonic stem cells (ESCs), which are derived from the inner cell mass of the preimplantation blastocysts are defined as pluripotent stem cells [7, 8]
Summary
Stem cells refer to a population of undifferentiated cells that are potent for proliferation, differentiation, and self-renewal [1]. Stem cells are defined as unipotent if they maintain the ability to just self-renew and can only differentiate into cell types of a single tissue layer. A new type of stem cells called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has been introduced in recent years [6]. Adult stem cells are present in adult tissues and replenish senescent cells and subsequently regenerate damaged tissues These cells, including mainly hematopoietic, neural crest-derived, and mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs), are known as multipotent stem cells [9,10,11,12]. Strauer and Kornowski note ESCs as highly expandable and pluripotent but limited by risk of rejection, difficult isolation, risk of malignancy, and ethical objection They contrast that MSCs are obtained, expanded, compatible, and are socially acceptable [15]. The current review paper is aimed at describing characteristics of MSCs and the recent advances on MSC-based therapy
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