The immunologic and hematopoietic profiles of mesenchymal stem cells derived from different sections of human umbilical cord

Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been widely used in allogeneic stem cell transplantation. We compared immunologic and hematopoietic characteristics of MSCs derived from whole human umbilical cord (UC), as well as from different sections of UCs, including the amniotic membrane (AM), Wharton's jelly (WJ), and umbilical vessel (UV). Cell phenotypes were examined by flow cytometry. Lymphocyte transformation test and mixed lymphocyte reaction were performed to evaluate the immuno-modulatory activity of MSCs derived from UCs. The mRNA expression of cytokines was detected by realtime polymerase chain reaction. Hematopoietic function was studied by co-culturing MSCs with CD34 1 cells isolated from cord blood. Our results showed that MSCs separated from these four different sections including UC, WJ, UV, and AM had similar biological characteristics. All of the MSCs had multi-lineage differentiation ability and were able to differentiate into osteoblasts, adipocytes, and chondrocytes. The MSCs also inhibited the proliferation of allogeneic T cells in a dose-dependent manner. The relative mRNA expression of cytokines was examined, and the results showed that UCMSCs had higher interleukin-6 (IL6), IL11, stem cell factor, and FLT3 expression than MSCs derived from specific sections of UCs. CD34 1 cells had high propagation efficiencies when co-cultured with MSCs derived from different sections of UCs, among which UCMSCs are the most efficient feeding layer. Our study demonstrated that MSCs could be isolated from whole UC or specific sections of UC with similar immunomodulation and hematopoiesis supporting characteristics.

Human Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cells protect axotomized rat retinal ganglion cells via secretion of anti-inflammatory and neurotrophic factors

“…MSCs isolated from the human umbilical cord stroma or Wharton’s Jelly (hWJMSC) have been described as the best MSC source among the various compartments of the UC (stroma, veins, arteries, lining, and subamnion). As the other MSC populations from the UC 10 , hWJMSCs retain the same properties throughout the UC length 11 thus maximising the use of each cord. They offer the best clinical utility as they have less non-stem cell contaminants, can be generated in large numbers with minimal culture, their derivation is quick and easy to standardize, they are rich in stemness characteristics and have high differentiation potential 12 .…”

Comparative analysis of human Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cells derived from different parts of the same umbilical cord

“…The present era of stem cell biology has become highly advanced in the field of cell therapy, due to the evaluation of various stem cell sources producing fascinating results. After isolation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) by Friedenstein et al ( 1970 ), various attempts have been tried to isolate MSCs from different sources, such as adipose (Choi et al 2015 ), dental (Ullah et al 2016 , Park et al 2014 ), placenta (Li et al 2005 ), amniotic fluid (Ghionzoli et al 2013 ), umbilical cord (UC) (Xu et al 2014 ) and Wharton’s jelly (WJ) (Fong et al 2010 ).…”

“…More recently, another study reported immunologic and hematopoietic profiles of MSCs derived from different sections of human UC. Human UC (UC), amniotic membrane (AM), WJ and umbilical vessels derived MSCs showed similar biological characteristics including CD marker expression and multi-differentiation potential (Xu et al 2014 ). These studies confirm the isolation of various MSC sources from different regions of UC as well as (Wang et al 2004 ) from the WJ.…”

Human Wharton’s Jelly—Cellular Specificity, Stemness Potency, Animal Models, and Current Application in Human Clinical Trials

“…Because the stromal cells in Wharton's jelly are of extraembryonic mesodermal origin, and their differentiation into osteoblasts, adipocytes and chondroblasts is required for WJ-derived cells to be considered mesenchymal stem cells [46], such differentiation has been conducted by many authors [16,[61][62][63][64][65]. As demonstrated by Karahuseyinoglu et al [66], Wharton's jelly-derived MSCs (WJ-MSCs) exhibit greater differentiation potential towards chondrogenic and osteogenic lineages than bone marrow-derived MSCs.…”

“…Wharton's jelly seems to provide a particularly attractive source of mesenchymal stem cells for regenerative and reconstructive medicine. Reports regarding HLA-ABC (also called major histocompatibility complex I -MHC-I) expression are, however, inconsistent amongst researchers; Xu et al [63] found that 77% of WJ-MSCs expressed HLA-ABC, whereas a study by Zhou et al [75] indicated that less than 30% of WJ-MSCs expressed this antigen. On the other hand, WJ-MSCs do not express HLA-DR (MHC-II), which makes them promising candidates for allogeneic and xenogeneic transplants [63].…”