American Journal of Stem Cells

Human primary in vitro cell cultures are among the most challenging procedures in cellular biology laboratory practice. Myoblasts-progenitor of skeletal muscle origin represent a promising therapeutic cell source since the procedure of their isolation is not technically demanding, and the in vitro culture is relatively straightforward. Myoblasts could be considered as the candidates for clinical applications due to their regenerative potential, and as the carriers of therapeutic proteins introduced through genetic modifications...

OBJECTIVES: Cellular and functional exhaustion of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSC) is significantly associated with the loss of HSCs and hepatic osteodystrophy in cirrhosis. The molecular mechanisms underlying the dysfunction of BM-MSCs are not well understood. We investigated the underlying mechanisms of cellular and functional exhaustion of BM-MSCs in cirrhosis. METHODS: The MSCs were isolated retrospectively from bone marrow of decompensated alcoholic cirrhosis patients {(Trial registration: ClinicalTrials...

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) started in December 2019 and affected the whole world in a short time. The course of the disease depends on the person's immune system, physical properties, health status, etc. as it varies according to its characteristics while it is asymptomatic in some people, it causes fatal processes that start with flu-like symptoms such as cough, fever, respiratory distress in some people and progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), severe pneumonia and multi-organ dysfunction, and the basic mechanism underlying these effects known as a cytokine storm...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Drug delivery by nebulization has become a crucial strategy for treating different respiratory and lung diseases. Emerging evidence implicates stem cell therapy as a promising tool in treating such conditions, not only by alleviating the related symptoms but by improving the prognosis. However, delivery of human peripheral blood-derived stem cells (hPBSCs) to the respiratory airways remains an innovative approach yet to be realized. This study is an analytic, translational, and in vitro research to assess the viability and morphological changes of identified cell populations in hPBSCs cocktail derived from COVID-19 patients...

Most epithelium tissues continuously undergo self-renewal through proliferation and differentiation of epithelial stem cells (known as homeostasis), within a specialized stem cell niche. In highly innervated epithelium, peripheral nerves compose perineural niche and support stem cell homeostasis by releasing a variety of neurotransmitters, hormones, and growth factors and supplying trophic factors to the stem cells. Emerging evidence has shown that both sensory and motor nerves can regulate the fate of epithelial stem cells, thus influencing epithelium homeostasis...

Cell therapies could be the future of medicine. Many centers worldwide consider the use of stem cells to treat certain conditions. Well, proper homing remains the challenge, which means the ability to target the cells to the targeted site. Intraoperative transplantation of stem cells can overcome the homing challenge. However, it could be a double-edged sword, if a proper technique was not conducted. In this comment, a practical example of that is presented, where the use of stem cells in the vascular and neurovascular surgeries shows a promising potential, but the way in which the cells are processed and introduced is a critical step that should be given a lot of attention...

BACKGROUND: The recent newly appeared Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by an enveloped RNA virus named "severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)", is associated with severe respiratory morbidity and mortality. Recent studies have shown that lymphopenia and a cytokine mass release represent important pathogenic features, with clinical evidence of dyspnea and hypoxemia, often leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), in severely ill patients, with a high death toll...

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a unique population of cells found within tumors that are able to self-renew, restore the original heterogeneity of a tumor following treatment, and show increased tumorigenic potential when compared to other cancer cells. It is thought that they are responsible for the recurrence of tumors as well as the resistance to treatment that is seen clinically. CSCs are known to be involved in head and neck cancer (HNCs) specifically, as evidence for their existence can be found in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC), and adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC), among others...

The properties of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs), including self-renewal and pluripotency, have been extensively studied. These features have been explored in the management of several haematological disorders and malignancies. Although their role as precursors of innate immune cells is well understood, little is known about their direct participation in host immune response. In this review, we explicate the direct role of HSPCs in the host immune response and highlight therapeutic options for the infectious disease burden that is currently ravaging the world, including COVID-19...

Historically, primordial germ cells (PGCs) have been a good model to study pluripotency. Despite their low numbers and limited accessibility in the mouse embryo, they can be easily and rapidly reprogrammed at high efficiency with external physicochemical factors and do not require transcription factor transfection. Employing this model to deepen our understanding of cell reprogramming, we specifically aimed to determine the relevance of Ca2+ signal transduction pathway components in the reprogramming process...

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorders [ASD] is a lifelong disability mainly affecting the development, communication, social interaction and behavior of an individual. Cell transplantation is emerging as a potential therapeutic strategy for ASD. Our previously published proof of concept study showed beneficial effects of cell transplantation in ASD. This study shows effect of cell transplantation in a larger sample size of ASD patients. METHODS: 254 patients diagnosed with ASD on DSM V criteria were enrolled in this open label non-randomized study...

INTRODUCTION: One of the most common orthodontic problems is maxillary constriction, which is mostly treated by rapid palatal expansion (RPE). However, its high rate of relapse and prolonged retention period have led to some challenges for orthodontists. To encounter these issues, accelerating bone regeneration can provide long-term stability of expanded maxilla. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of low-level laser therapy (LLLT), bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and their combination on promoting bone regeneration of the inter-maxillary suture after RPE in rats...

INTRODUCTION: HspB5 (αB-crystallin) is known to be involved in a variety of cellular functions, including, protection of cells from oxidative damage and inhibiting apoptosis. Neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) have significant therapeutic value, especially in the NSC/NPC transplantation therapy. However, the viability of the transplanted NSPCs remains low because of various factors, including oxidative stress. OBJECTIVE: The current investigation explored the possible role of HspB5 in the protection of mouse NSPCs ( m NSPCs) against paraquat-induced toxicity...

INTRODUCTION: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are able to differentiate into several cell lineages including skeletal muscle. In addition to their differentiation capacities, they have the ability to transfer their content genomic information horizontally through their exosomes and fusion abilities, as we have shown in our previous clinic study on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) patients, dystrophin expression increased after MSC treatment. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the transcriptomic properties of Wharton's jelly derived (WJ-) MSC and Adipose tissue (AT-) derived MSC, which are the two most preferred sources in MSC treatments applied in DMD...

INTRODUCTION: Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a leading cause of acute liver injury (ALI). Acetaminophen (also termed paracetamol), can often be found in drugs that may be abused (i.e., prescription for pain relief). Animal experiments have shown that mesenchymal stem cell transplantation can ameliorate or even reverse hepatic injury. MATERIAL AND METHODS: ALI was induced in Wistar rats using paracetamol. ATSCs were transplanted via the intravenous, portal vein, or intrahepatic route directly onto the liver parenchyma...

Cochlear hair cells (HCs) are the mechanoreceptors of the auditory system, and because these cells cannot be spontaneously regenerated in adult mammals, hearing loss due to HC damage is permanent. However, cochleae of neonatal mice harbor some progenitor cells that retain limited ability to give rise to new HCs in vivo . Here we review the regulatory factors, signaling pathways, and epigenetic factors that have been reported to play roles in HC regeneration in the neonatal mammalian cochlea.

Deafness is one of the major global health problems that seriously affects the quality of human life. At present, there are no successful treatments for deafness caused by cochlear hair cell (HC) damage. The irreversibility of mammalian hearing impairment is that the inner ear's sensory epithelium cannot repair lost hair cells and neurons through spontaneous regeneration. The goal of stem cell therapy for sensorineural hearing loss is to reconstruct the damaged inner ear structure and achieve functional repair...

Postnatal mammalian cochlear hair cells (HCs) can be regenerated by direct transdifferentiation or by mitotic regeneration from supporting cells through many pathways, including Atoh1, Wnt, Hedgehog and Notch signaling. However, most new HCs are immature HCs. In this study we used RNA-Seq analysis to compare the differences between the transcriptomes of Atoh1 overexpression-induced new HCs and the native HCs, and to define the factors that might help to promote the maturation of new HCs. As expected, we found Atoh1 -induced new HCs had obvious HC characteristics as demonstrated by the expression of HC markers such as Pou4f3 and Myosin VIIA (Myo7a)...

Two of the leading strategies to prevent cervical cancer are prophylactic human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and routine Papanicolaou (Pap) testing. However, regardless of being vaccinated with first-generation (bivalent and quadrivalent) HPV vaccines at the recommended dosing schedule, many women are still found to have low- and high-grade cervical intraepithelial lesions. Studies have shown that this is largely due to: (1) first-generation vaccines only protecting against 70% of high-risk HPV types that cause cervical cancer (HPVs 16/18) and (2) vaccinated women being more prone to infection with non-protected high-risk HPV types than unvaccinated women...

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are undifferentiated cells that have the ability of self-renewal and trans-differentiation into other cell types. They hold out hope for finding a cure for many diseases. Nevertheless, there are still some obstacles that limit their clinical transplantation. One of these obstacles are the xenogeneic substances added in either proliferation or differentiation media with subsequent immunogenic and infectious transmission problems. In this study, we aimed to replace fetal bovine serum (FBS), the main nutrient source for MSC proliferation with xeno-free blood derivatives...