Menstrual Blood-Derived Stem Cells: In Vitro and In Vivo Characterization of Functional Effects

Abstract

Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that menstrual blood stands as a viable source of stem cells. Menstrual blood-derived stem cells (MenSCs) are morphologically and functionally similar to cells directly extracted from the endometrium, and present dual expression of mesenchymal and embryonic cell markers, thus becoming interesting tools for regenerative medicine. Functional reports show higher proliferative and self-renewal capacities than bone marrow-derived stem cells, as well as successful differentiation into hepatocyte-like cells, glial-like cells, endometrial stroma-like cells, among others. Moreover, menstrual blood stem cells may be used with increased efficiency in reprogramming techniques for induced Pluripotent Stem cell (iPS) generation. Experimental studies have shown successful treatment of stroke, colitis, limb ischemia, coronary disease, Duchenne's muscular atrophy and streptozotocin-induced type 1 diabetes animal models with MenSCs. As we envision an off-the-shelf product for cell therapy, cryopreserved MenSCs appear as a feasible clinical product. Clinical applications, although still very limited, have great potential and ongoing studies should be disclosed in the near future.

Optimization of lentiviral transduction parameters and its application for CRISPR-based secretome modification of human endometrial mesenchymal stem cells

“…Until recently, the most common way to isolate hMESCs was to take biopsy of endometrial tissue through a cervix [7,8]. In 2007-2008, two independent research groups isolated stem cells from desquamated endometrium collected from menstrual blood [4,9].…”

“…In 2007-2008, two independent research groups isolated stem cells from desquamated endometrium collected from menstrual blood [4,9]. Importantly, cells obtained from menstrual blood are morphologically and functionally similar to cells directly extracted from the endometrium [8]. hMESCs display all the necessary characteristics inherent to the stem cells of mesenchymal origin [4,9,10].…”

“…Largely due to these advantages, promising results concerning hMESCs experimental and clinical application for treatment of various diseases, including stroke, colitis, limb ischemia, coronary disease, Duchenne's muscular atrophy, and streptozotocin-induced type 1 diabetes, are obtained (reviewed in [8]). Therefore, hMESCs seem to be attractive tools for both investigations in stem-cell biology and applications in regenerative medicine.…”

Human Menstrual Blood-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells as Potential Cell Carriers for Oncolytic Adenovirus

“…Furthermore, they demonstrated that MenSCs have the shortest population doubling time, the highest clonogenic efficacy, and the largest number of in vitro passages before becoming senescent [23]. More recently, MenSCs have been extensively characterized in vitro and in vivo and their potential for cellular therapy has been described [24–26]. Altogether, these features point out that menstrual blood represents an efficient and ethically accepted source of MSCs for clinical treatments.…”

“…Currently, the use of MenSCs has been applied to the treatment of multiple sclerosis, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and more recently, heart failure and liver cirrhosis (reviewed in [26]). Here, we propose the use of MenSCs as cell carriers for OAdv and cancer treatment.…”