Adult Stem Cells of Orofacial Origin: Current Knowledge and Limitation and Future Trend in Regenerative Medicine

Abstract

Stem cell research is one of the most rapidly expanding field of medicine which provides significant opportunities for therapeutic and regenerative applications. Different types of stem cells have been isolated investigating their accessibility, control of the differentiation pathway and additional immunomodulatory properties. Bulk of the literature focus has been on the study and potential applications of adult stem cells (ASC) because of their low immunogenicity and reduced ethical considerations. This review paper summarizes the basic available literature on different types of ASC with special focus on stem cells from dental and orofacial origin. ASC have been isolated from different sources, however, isolation of ASC from orofacial tissues has provided a novel promising alternative. These cells offer a great potential in the future of therapeutic and regenerative medicine because of their remarkable availability at low cost while allowing minimally invasive isolation procedures. Furthermore, their immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory potential is of particular interest. However, there are conflicting reports in the literature regarding their particular biology and full clinical potentials. Sound knowledge and higher control over proliferation and differentiation mechanisms are prerequisites for clinical applications of these cells. Therefore, further standardized basic and translational studies are required to increase the reproducibility and reduce the controversies of studies, which in turn facilitate comparison of related literature and enhance further development in the field.

Keywords: Adult stem cell; Orofacial stem cells; Regenerative medicine; Stem cell therapy.

Fig. 1

Main categories of stem cells. ESC embryonic stem cell, iPSC induced pluripotent stem cell, ASC adult stem cell, MSC mesenchymal stem cell, HSC hematopoietic stem cells, BMSC bone marrow stem cell, OBMSC orofacial bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell, DPSC dental pulp stem cell, SHED exfoliated deciduous teeth stem cell, PDLSC periodontal ligament stem cell, DFSC dental follicle stem cell, APSC adult pulp stem cell, OESC oral epithelium stem cell, GSC gingival stem cell, SGSC salivary gland stem cell, ATSC adipose tissue stem cell, SMSC Schneiderian membrane stem cell, PSC periosteum stem cell