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©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Programmed cell death in stem cell-based therapy: Mechanisms and clinical applications
Xi-Min Hu, Qi Zhang, Rui-Xin Zhou, Yan-Lin Wu, Zhi-Xin Li, Dan-Yi Zhang, Yi-Chao Yang, Rong-Hua Yang, Yong-Jun Hu, Kun Xiong
Xi-Min Hu, Qi Zhang, Rui-Xin Zhou, Yan-Lin Wu, Zhi-Xin Li, Dan-Yi Zhang, Yi-Chao Yang, Kun Xiong, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Central South University, Changsha 410013, Hunan Province, China
Xi-Min Hu, Department of Dermatology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410013, Hunan Province, China
Rong-Hua Yang, Department of Burns, Fo Shan Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Foshan 528000, Guangdong Province, China
Yong-Jun Hu, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Hunan People's Hospital (the First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410005, Hunan Province, China
Author contributions: Hu XM was the major contributor in reviewing the literature, writing the manuscript, and creating descriptive figures; Zhou RX was a major contributor in editing the tables and figures; Wu YL, Hu YJ, and Li ZX assisted in literature review; Xiong K, Zhang Q, and Yang RH was a major contributor in revising the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81772134, No. 81971891, and No. 81571939.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Xiong K has received research funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See:
http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Kun Xiong, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, No. 172 Tongzi Po Road, Changsha 410013, Hunan Province, China. xiongkun2001@163.com
Received: February 26, 2021
Peer-review started: February 26, 2021
First decision: April 20, 2021
Revised: April 26, 2021
Accepted: May 7, 2021
Article in press: May 7, 2021
Published online: May 26, 2021
Stem cell-based therapy raises hopes for a better approach to promoting tissue repair and functional recovery. However, transplanted stem cells show a high death percentage, creating challenges to successful transplantation and prognosis. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the mechanisms underlying stem cell death, such as apoptotic cascade activation, excessive autophagy, inflammatory response, reactive oxygen species, excitotoxicity, and ischemia/hypoxia. Targeting the molecular pathways involved may be an efficient strategy to enhance stem cell viability and maximize transplantation success. Notably, a more complex network of cell death receives more attention than one crucial pathway in determining stem cell fate, highlighting the challenges in exploring mechanisms and therapeutic targets. In this review, we focus on programmed cell death in transplanted stem cells. We also discuss some promising strategies and challenges in promoting survival for further study.
Core Tip: The point of interest of this work is the complex mechanisms of the programmed cell death in stem cells (SCs), which suggests a series of targets as an efficient, reliable, and potential strategy to promote the SC-based therapy.
