Characterization and comparison of telomere length, telomerase and reverse transcriptase activity and gene expression in human mesenchymal stem cells and cancer cells of various origins

Abstract

We have characterized and compared the telomere length, telomerase, reverse transcriptase (RT) activity and expression of genes implicated in cancer and in pluripotency, in human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from dental papilla tissue, umbilical cord matrix and adipose tissue and in cancer cells (MDA-MB-231, U-87 MG, and MCF-7). MRC-5 fetal fibroblasts and adult muscle cells were used as somatic cell controls. Telomere length was significantly (P<0.05) higher in MSCs and somatic cells (7.2-9.3 kb) than in cancer cell lines (3.9-6 kb). However, the relative telomerase activity (RTA) in the cancer cell lines was significantly (P<0.05) higher than that of MSCs and somatic cells. RTA tended to be slightly higher in MSCs but no significant differences were observed between some cancer cells and MSCs. However, RTA was not detected in somatic cells. Although differentially displayed, the expression of genes related to cancer (BCL-2, p53, NF-κB, TGF-β, VEGF) and transcription and pluripotency (OCT4, NANOG, STAT3, REX1) were commonly observed in MSCs and cancer cells. Thus, endogenous non-telomerase RTA might be a potential biological marker or regulator among MSCs and cancer cells. Further, by sharing the biological and molecular markers of self-renewal and proliferation with cancer cells, MSCs might play a contributory role as tissue resident stem cells in tumor development.

Correlation between telomere maintenance and stemness of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells

“…Contrary, in previous study, hTERT has been proposed to have a role in the upregulation of pluripotency marker expression in MSCs [35] . Although expression of pluripotency markers in adult stem cells is demonstrated in many studies [33,36] , their role is still not well defined.…”

Cellular Immunotherapy for Malignant Brain Tumors

“…Survivin expression, which is documented in both gliomas and medulloblatomas [36,37], inhibits caspase activation, leading to the negative regulation of apoptosis in tumor cells [38]. Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein that maintains the length of telomeres and thus controls cell proliferation [39], and high telomerase activity has been documented in brain tumor cells [40,41], particularly brain tumor stem cells [42]. The expression of cytomegalovirus (CMV) antigens IE1 and pp65 have been identified in glioma tissue, and in very low to undetectable levels in non-tumor tissue in the brain [43].…”

Differentiation potential of mesenchymal stem cells isolated from human dental tissues into non-mesodermal lineage

“…In addition to MSCs isolated from the bone marrow, many groups have isolated MSCs from various tissues and organs of the body, which exists there, for regenerating damaged tissues. Till recently, human-derived MSCs were isolated from diverse tissues such as adipose, skin, umbilical cord matrix, dental pulp/papilla and others have fully demonstrated the cellular properties of MSCs for clinical and research applications (Jeon et al 2011a(Jeon et al , 2011bAkiyama et al 2012;Karaoz et al 2013). The various types of MSCs exhibited similar fibroblasts-like morphology and growth pattern following attachment onto plastic culture plates (Jeon et al 2011a(Jeon et al , 2011b.…”

“…Further, it has been demonstrated that cells derived from dental tissues with the developing third molar (wisdom tooth) bud are a unique source of MSCs (Jeon et al 2011a(Jeon et al , 2011bPatil et al 2014). In our previous studies, MSCs derived from dental papilla tissue (DPSCs) of third molars showed outstanding cellular properties, telomerase activity, length of telomeric repeats, reverse transcriptase activity, cluster of differentiation (CD) surface markers and expression of transcripts, compared to those of bone marrow MSCs, adipose MSCs and dental pulp/ follicle MSCs (Jeon et al 2011a(Jeon et al , 2011b.…”

“…Till recently, human-derived MSCs were isolated from diverse tissues such as adipose, skin, umbilical cord matrix, dental pulp/papilla and others have fully demonstrated the cellular properties of MSCs for clinical and research applications (Jeon et al 2011a(Jeon et al , 2011bAkiyama et al 2012;Karaoz et al 2013). The various types of MSCs exhibited similar fibroblasts-like morphology and growth pattern following attachment onto plastic culture plates (Jeon et al 2011a(Jeon et al , 2011b. The investigated MSCs also expressed the fundamental cellular properties of alkaline phosphatase activity, stem-cellspecific cell surface makers and pluripotent stem-cellspecific transcripts, such as SOX-2, OCT-4 and NANOG (Song et al 2011;Lee et al 2013;Patil et al 2014).…”