Mesenchymal Stem Cell

Over the past few years, substantial progress has been made in the field of stem cell regeneration of the intervertebral disc. Autogenic mesenchymal stem cells in animal models can arrest intervertebral disc degeneration or even partially regenerate it and the effect is suggested to be dependent on the severity of degeneration. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are able to escape alloantigen recognition which is an advantage for allogenic transplantation. A number of injectable scaffolds have been described and various methods to pre-modulate MSCs’ activity have been tested. In future, work will need to address the use of mesenchymal stem cells in large animal models and the fate of the implanted mesenchymal stem cells, particularly in the long term, in animals. This review examines the state-of-the-art in the field of stem cell regeneration of the intervertebral disc, and critically discusses, with scientific support, the issues involved, before stem cells could be used in human subjects.

The ability to repair tissue via percutaneous means may allow interventional pain physicians to manage a wide variety of diseases including peripheral joint injuries and osteoarthritis. This review will highlight the developments in cellular medicine that may soon permit interventional pain management physicians to treat a much wider variety of clinical conditions and highlight an interventional case study using these technologies To determine if isolated and expanded human autologous mesenchymal stem cells could effectively regenerate cartilage and meniscal tissue when percutaneously injected into knees. Case Study Private Interventional Pain Management practice. An IRB approved study with a consenting volunteer in which mesenchymal stem cells were isolated and cultured ex-vivo from bone marrow aspiration of the iliac crest. The mesenchymal stem cells were then percutaneously injected into the subject's knee with MRI proven degenerative joint disease. Pre- and post-treatment su...

Previous studies have shown the relevance of bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSCs) in controlling graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic transplantation. Since adipose tissue-derived MSCs (Ad-MSCs) may constitute a good alternative to BM-MSCs, we have expanded MSCs derived from human adipose tissue (hAd-MSCs) and mouse adipose tissue (mAd-MSCs), investigated the immunoregulatory properties of these cells, and evaluated their capacity to control GVHD in mice. The phenotype and immunoregulatory properties of expanded hAd-MSCs were similar to those of human BM-MSCs. Moreover, hAd-MSCs inhibited the proliferation and cytokine secretion of human primary T cells in response to mitogens and allogeneic T cells. Similarly, ex vivo expanded mAd-MSCs had an equivalent immunophenotype and exerted immunoregulatory properties similar to those of hAd-MSCs. Moreover, the infusion of mAd-MSCs in mice transplanted with haploidentical hematopoietic grafts controlled the lethal GVHD that occurred in control recipient mice. These findings constitute the first experimental proof that Ad-MSCs can efficiently control the GVHD associated with allogeneic hematopoietic transplantation, opening new perspectives for the clinical use of Ad-MSCs.