title: Characterization of dental pulp stem/stromal cells of Huntington monkey tooth germs.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dental pulp stem/stromal cells (DPSCs) are categorized as adult stem cells (ASCs) that retain multipotent differentiation capabilities. DPSCs can be isolated from individuals at any age and are considered to be true personal stem cells, making DPSCs one of the potential options for stem cell therapy. However, the properties of DPSCs from individuals with an inherited genetic disorder, such as Huntington's disease (HD), have not been fully investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  To examine if mutant huntingtin (htt) protein impacts DPSC properties, we have established DPSCs from tooth germ of transgenic monkeys that expressed both mutant htt and green fluorescent protein (GFP) genes (rHD/G-DPSCs), and from a monkey that expressed only the GFP gene (rG-DPSCs), which served as a control. Although mutant htt and oligomeric htt aggregates were overtly present in rHD/G-DPSCs, all rHD/G-DPSCs and rG-DPSCs shared similar characteristics, including self-renewal, multipotent differentiation capabilities, expression of stemness and differentiation markers, and cell surface antigen profile.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that DPSCs from Huntington monkeys retain ASC properties. Thus DPSCs derived from individuals with genetic disorders such as HD could be a potential source of personal stem cells for therapeutic purposes.
authors.affiliation: Yerkes National Primate Research Center, 954 Gatewood Rd., NE Atlanta, GA 30329, USA.
authors.forename: Brooke R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Snyder
authors.forename: Pei-Hsun
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Jinjing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Shang-Hsun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Anderson H C
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Anthony W S
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D053687:Adult Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000235:genetics; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003782:Dental Pulp / Q000473:pathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D000882:Haplorhini; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D019076:Transgenes / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins