Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Jun 26, 2019; 11(6): 347-374
Published online Jun 26, 2019. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v11.i6.347
Similarities and differences between mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells derived from various human tissues
Urszula Kozlowska, Agnieszka Krawczenko, Katarzyna Futoma, Tomasz Jurek, Marta Rorat, Dariusz Patrzalek, Aleksandra Klimczak
Urszula Kozlowska, Agnieszka Krawczenko, Katarzyna Futoma, Aleksandra Klimczak, Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wroclaw 53-114, Poland
Tomasz Jurek, Marta Rorat, Department of Forensic Medicine, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw 50-345, Poland
Dariusz Patrzalek, Faculty of Health Science, Department of Physiotherapy, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw 50-367, Poland
Author contributions: Kozlowska U performed the majority of experiments, analyzed the data, and wrote the paper; Krawczenko A, and Futoma K contributed to experiment preparation and acquisition and interpretation of data; Jurek T, Rorat M, and Patrzalek D contributed to material and data acquisition; Klimczak A designed the study, analyzed data, and wrote the paper.
Supported by the National Science Center, No. N407121940; and by the Wroclaw Centre of Biotechnology, the Leading National Research Centre (KNOW) program for the years 2014-2018.
Institutional review board statement: Research was performed using human samples and was approved by the institutional review board of the Bioethics Committee of Wroclaw Medical University No. KB-746/2012 and No. KB 201/2016.
Institutional review board statement: The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Approval Form is not applicable for the manuscript. Studies were not performed on animal models.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The ARRIVE Guidelines Checklist is not applicable for the manuscript, studies were not performed on animal models.
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/
Corresponding author: Aleksandra Klimczak, DSc, PhD, Associate Professor, Laboratory of Biology of Stem and Neoplastic Cells, Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy Polish Academy of Sciences, Rudolfa Weigla 12 Street, Wroclaw 53-114, Poland. aleksandra.klimczak@hirszfeld.pl
Telephone: +48-71-3371172 Fax: +48-71-3372171
Received: October 27, 2018
Peer-review started: October 27, 2018
First decision: November 15, 2018
Revised: December 3, 2018
Accepted: January 26, 2019
Article in press: January 26, 2019
Published online: June 26, 2019
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) are applied in experimental clinical procedures as a promising tool in regenerative medicine. Cells with basic MSCs characteristics can be isolated from different human tissues. However, their biological properties are still not fully cha-racterized. Although MSCs from different tissues exhibit many common characteristics, some markers and biological properties are different and depend on their tissue of origin.

Research motivation

The biological diversity of MSCs, depending on their original tissue location, methodology of isolation, and culture conditions encouraged us to explore the biological properties of MSCs of different tissue-origin in long-term in vitro culture. Recognizing the activity of factors that underlie MSC biology should constitute important points for consideration before clinical MSC application.

Research objectives

In this study, we characterize the biological properties of MSCs during longterm culture isolated from: bone marrow (BM-MSCs), adipose tissue (AT-MSCs), skeletal muscles (SM-MSCs), and skin (SK-MSCs).

Research methods

MSCs were isolated from the examined tissues and cultured up to 10 passages. MSCs were assessed for: phenotype with immunofluorescence and flow cytometry, multipotency with differentiation capacity for osteo-, chondro-, and adipogenesis, stemness markers with qPCR for mRNA for Sox2 and Oct4, and genetic stability for p53 and c-Myc. Furthermore, 27 bioactive factors were screened with the multiplex ELISA array, and spontaneous fusion involving a co-culture of SM-MSCs with BM-MSCs or AT-MSCs stained with PKH26 (red) or PKH67 (green) was carried out.

Research results

All examined MSCs showed the basic MSC phenotype CD73, CD90, CD105 stable up to P10. However, their expression decreased with the age of culture, as confirmed by fluorescence intensity. The proangiogenic properties of MSCs were confirmed by CD146 expression, however, long-term culture is unfavorable for maintaining the proangiogenic function of examined MSCs, but not for BM-MSCs. All examined MSCs, except BM-MSCs, expressed PW1, a marker associated with differentiation capacity and apoptosis. BMMSCs and ATMSCs expressed the stemness markers Sox2 and Oct4 in long-term culture. All examined MSCs were stable in terms of p53 and c-Myc expression. The differentiation capacity of BM-MSCs and AT-MSCs was maintained during the follow-up period. In contrast, SK-MSCs and SM-MSCs had a limited ability to differentiate into adipocytes. BM-MSCs and AT-MSCs revealed similarities in phenotype maintenance, the ability to undergo multilineage differentiation, and secretion of bioactive factors. The fact that AT-MSCs fused with SM-MSCs as effectively as BM-MSCs indicates that AT-MSCs may serve as an alternative source for BM-MSCs.

Research conclusions

Long-term culture affects the biological activity of MSCs obtained from various tissues. The source of MSCs with specific biological properties and the duration of the culture will be an important consideration for their selection for regenerative medicine.

Research perspectives

Knowledge of MSC biology is developing, but remains incomplete, and there is still much room for exploration in basic in vitro and in vivo research before MSCs can be used in therapy.