Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells: an overview of their potential in cell-based therapy

作者：Li Tan, Mingxu Xia, Yuanyuan Gao, Yanting Chen, Yun Xu · 发表于：Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy · 年份：2015 · DOI：10.1517/14712598.2015.1051528 · 被引用次数：288 · 研究领域：Mesenchymal stem cell research、Biological Research and Disease Studies、Cancer Research and Treatment

INTRODUCTION: Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (HUC-MSCs) are one of the typical adult stem cells; they have superiorities including low immunogenicity, non-invasive harvest procedure, easy expansion in vitro, and ethical access compared with stem cells from other sources. Therefore, HUC-MSCs are a promising candidate for cell-based therapy. AREAS COVERED: Here we reviewed the development of stem cell-based therapy, the manufacturing and banking process of HUC-MSCs, the emerging clinical studies in the field of cancer, central nervous system diseases, liver diseases and graft-versus-host disease, the potential therapeutic mechanisms, as well as challenges of HUC-MSCs in clinical translation. EXPERT OPINION: HUC-MSCs seem to be an optimal choice for stem cell-based therapy. However, before the cells translate from basic to clinical research, some problems still remain to be solved: i) building regulatory guidelines as well as an efficient and safe manufacturing procedure; ii) establishing donor's genetic testing and long-term closely monitoring system; iii) conducting further clinical trials to determine the optimum and standard dosage, time, route, frequency and many other technical issues of HUC-MSCs transplantation.