Elsevier

Cytokine & Growth Factor Reviews

Volume 20, Issues 5–6, October–December 2009, Pages 419-427
Cytokine & Growth Factor Reviews

Mini review
Mechanisms involved in the therapeutic properties of mesenchymal stem cells

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cytogfr.2009.10.002Get rights and content
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Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been described as being able to give rise to several quite different mesenchymal cell phenotypes. However, the ability to differentiate is not the only characteristic that makes these cells attractive for therapeutic purposes. The secretion of a broad range of bioactive molecules by MSCs, such as growth factors, cytokines and chemokines, constitutes their most biologically significant role under injury conditions. Understanding this intricate secretory activity as well as the properties of MSCs in vivo is central to harnessing their clinical potential. Herein, we identify some of the molecules involved in the paracrine effects of MSCs with a perspective that these cells intrinsically belong to a perivascular niche in vivo, and discuss how this knowledge could be advantageously used in clinical applications.

Keywords

Mesenchymal stem cell
Pericyte
Therapeutics
Homing
Cell therapy

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Lindolfo da Silva Meirelles is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Science and Technology for Stem Cells and Cell Therapy based at the Regional Center for Hemotherapy of University of São Paulo's teaching hospital in the city of Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. He received his Licentiate in Biological Sciences, M.S. (Genetics and Molecular Biology) and Ph.D. (Sciences) degrees from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil). He has isolated and characterized mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from various tissues of mice and other species, a work that prompted him to investigate the association of MSCs with blood vessels. He is currently studying the relationship between a subset of human perivascular cells and MSCs.

Aparecida Maria Fontes graduated from Sao Paulo University at School of Philosophy Science and Letters of Ribeirao Preto. She received her Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the Medical School at Sao Paulo University. From 1997 to 2001 she performed two Post Doctorate scholarships at Case Western Reserve University: the first one in Genetics using transgenic flies as a model and the second one in Hematology/Oncology with Gene Therapy. Since 2002 she is a Researcher at Blood Center of Ribeirao Preto and in 2008 she became a collaborator researcher at National Institute of Science and Technology in Stem Cells and Cell Therapy (INCTC). Dr. Fontes research interests are in the areas of Hemophilia and stem cells. In her hemophilia research, the laboratory is developing the fourth generation of recombinant human coagulation factor VIII and IX using human cell lines as a producer. It has been also investigating a cell therapy strategy using endothelial cells or embryonic stem cells. In the area of stem cells, the laboratory has been developing in vivo models of fibrosarcoma and melanoma tumors to exploit the interaction between tumor cells and mesenchymal stem cells in tumor development.

Dimas T. Covas is an Associate Professor of the Hematology Division of the Department of Clinical Medicine of School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto – University of Sao Paulo – Brazil (FMRP.USP). He received his MD, M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the same University. His research has focused on mesenchymal stem cells and hematopoietic stem cells, specially looking into their global gene expression profiles and exploring the clinical use of these cells in mouse models and in humans. He is now the treasurer of the Brazilian Association for Hematology and Hemotherapy, and Director of the Regional Blood Center of Ribeirão Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Arnold I. Caplan, Professor of Biology and Director of the Skeletal Research Center received his B.S. in Chemistry at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and his Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Anatomy at The Johns Hopkins University, followed by Postdoctoral Fellowships at Brandeis University. He came to CWRU as Assistant Professor of Biology in 1969 and rose through the ranks to become Professor in 1981. He has received numerous awards including the 1990 Elizabeth Winston Lanier Award given by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the 1999 Marshall R. Urist Award for Excellence in Tissue Regeneration Research given by the Orthopaedic Research Society and the Genzyme Lifetime Achievement Award given by the International Cartilage Repair Society in 2007. Dr. Caplan is a national and international scholar focusing on experimentation in the area of musculoskeletal and skin development. He has published over 350 papers and manuscripts and has long been supported by the NIH and other non-profit and for-profit agencies for his efforts in trying to understand the development, maturation and aging of cartilage, bone, skin and other mesenchymal tissues and for his pioneering research on mesenchymal stem cells.