Research using Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells: quality metric towards developing a reference material.
Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) have been extensively investigated for their regenerative, immune-modulatory, and wound healing properties. While the laboratory studies have suggested that MSC's have a unique potential for modulating the etiopathology of multiple diseases, the results from clinical trials have not been encouraging or reproducible. One of the explanations for such variability is explained by the "art" of isolating and propagating MSCs. Therefore, establishing more than minimal criteria to define MSC would help understand best protocols to isolate, propagate and deliver MSCs. Developing a calibration standard, a database and a set of functional tests would be a better quality metric for MSCs. In this review, we discuss the importance of selecting a standard, issues associated with coming up with such a standard and how these issues can be mitigated.
Bioinformatics Institute, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 138671; Institute for Medical Biology, A∗STAR, Singapore 138648.
Vivek
V
Tanavde
Bioinformatics Institute, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 138671.
Candida
C
Vaz
Q Thera, NYSCF, Regenerative Medicine, NYSTEM, Albany, NY.
Mahendra S
MS
Rao
Thermo Fisher Scientific, Frederick, MD 21704, USA.
Mohan C
MC
Vemuri
Cancer Institute, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39216, USA. Electronic address: rpochampally@umc.edu.
Radhika R
RR
Pochampally
D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000592:standards*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006801:Humans; D045164:Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D012015:Reference Standards