Umbilical Cord as Prospective Source for Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Based Therapy

Abstract

The paper presents current evidence on the properties of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells, including origin, proliferative potential, plasticity, stability of karyotype and phenotype, transcriptome, secretome, and immunomodulatory activity. A review of preclinical studies and clinical trials using this cell type is performed. Prospects for the use of mesenchymal stem cells, derived from the umbilical cord, in cell transplantation are associated with the need for specialized biobanking and transplant standardization criteria.

Figure 1

Cross-section of the human umbilical cord. A: artery; V: vein; WJ: Wharton's jelly; UCL: umbilical cord lining; SA, IV, and PV: subamnion, intervascular, and perivascular zones of Wharton's jelly; VW: blood vessel wall. Hematoxylin and eosin staining, scale bar = 200 µm.

Figure 2

The characteristics of cultured cells derived from Wharton's jelly according to minimal criteria to define human MSCs proposed by ISCT. (a) Analysis of immunophenotype with BD Stemflow™ hMSC Analysis Kit (BD Biosciences). Negative MSC cocktail includes PE CD45, PE CD34, PE CD11b, PE CD19, and PE HLA-DR antibody conjugates. (b) Phase contrast capture of UC-MSCs at the fourth passage. Scale bar: 200 μm. (c) Adipogenic differentiation with StemPro® Adipogenesis Differentiation Kit (Gibco). Lipid droplets are stained with Sudan III. Scale bar: 200 μm. (d) Osteogenic differentiation with StemPro Osteogenesis Differentiation Kit (Gibco). Calcificated nodules are stained with Alizarin red S (pH = 4.1). Scale bar: 200 μm. (e) Chondrogenic differentiation with StemPro Chondrogenesis Differentiation Kit (Gibco). Mucopolysaccharides are stained with Alcian blue (pH = 2.5). Scale bar: 200 μm.

Figure 3

Number of clinical trials for UC-MSCs based therapy (https://ClinicalTrials.gov/).