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World J Stem Cells. Mar 26, 2015; 7(2): 470-476
Published online Mar 26, 2015. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v7.i2.470
CD271 as a marker to identify mesenchymal stem cells from diverse sources before culture
María Álvarez-Viejo, Yolanda Menéndez-Menéndez, Jesús Otero-Hernández
María Álvarez-Viejo, Yolanda Menéndez-Menéndez, Jesús Otero-Hernández, Unidad de Trasplantes, Terapia Celular y Medicina Regenerativa, Avenida de Roma s/n, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, 33011 Oviedo, Asturias, Spain
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest: The authors confirm that the manuscript has no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (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/
Correspondence to: María Álvarez-Viejo, PhD, Unidad de Trasplantes, Terapia Celular y Medicina Regenerativa, Avenida de Roma s/n, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, 33011 Oviedo, Asturias, Spain. maria.alvarezv@sespa.es
Telephone: +34-98-5109451
Received: August 1, 2014
Peer-review started: August 12, 2014
First decision: October 17, 2014
Revised: November 20, 2014
Accepted: November 27, 2014
Article in press: December 1, 2014
Published online: March 26, 2015
Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells, due to their characteristics are ideal candidates for cellular therapy. Currently, in culture these cells are defined by their adherence to plastic, specific surface antigen expression and multipotent differentiation potential. However, the in vivo identification of mesenchymal stem cells, before culture, is not so well established. Pre-culture identification markers would ensure higher purity than that obtained with selection based on adherence to plastic. Up until now, CD271 has been described as the most specific marker for the characterization and purification of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. This marker has been shown to be specifically expressed by these cells. Thus, CD271 has been proposed as a versatile marker to selectively isolated and expand multipotent mesenchymal stem cells with both immunosuppressive and lymphohematopoietic engraftment-promoting properties. This review focuses on this marker, specifically on identification of mesenchymal stem cells from different tissues. Literature revision suggests that CD271 should not be defined as a universal marker to identify mesenchymal stem cells before culture from different sources. In the case of bone marrow or adipose tissue, CD271 could be considered a quite suitable marker; however this marker seems to be inadequate for the isolation of mesenchymal stem cells from other tissues such as umbilical cord blood or wharton’s jelly among others.

Keywords: Mesenchymal stem cells, CD271, Low-affinity nerve growth factor receptor, p75, Bone marrow

Core tip: CD271 as a marker to identify mesenchymal stem cells from diverse sources before culture.