title: From tendon to nerve: an MSC for all seasons.
abstract: The potential of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to regenerate damaged tissue is well documented, as this specialized progenitor cell type exhibits superior cellular properties, and would allow medical as well as ethical limitations to be overcome. By now, MSCs have been successfully introduced in manifold experimental approaches within the newly defined realm of Regenerative Medicine. Advanced methods for in vitro cell expansion, defined induction of distinct differentiation processes, 3-dimensional culture on specific scaffold material, and tissue engineering approaches have been designed, and many clinical trials not only have been launched, but recently could be completed. To date, most of the MSC-based therapeutic approaches have been executed to address bone, cartilage, or heart regeneration; further, prominent studies have shown the efficacy of ex vivo expanded and infused MSCs to countervail graft-versus-host disease. Yet more fields of application emerge in which MSCs unfold beneficial effects, and presently, therapies that effectively ameliorate nonhealing conditions after tendon or spinal cord injury are, courtesy of scientific research, forging ahead to the clinical trial stage.
authors.affiliation: Extracellular Matrix Research, Institute for Biomedical Aging Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Angelika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jamnig
authors.forename: Günter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lepperdinger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D006801:Humans; D045164:Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000628:therapy; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000628:therapy*; D013708:Tendon Injuries / Q000628:therapy*; D013710:Tendons / Q000502:physiology; D023822:Tissue Engineering