Genetically engineered mesenchymal stem cell therapy using self-assembling supramolecular hydrogels.
Stem cell therapy has attracted a great deal of attention for treating intractable diseases such as cancer, stroke, liver cirrhosis, and ischemia. Especially, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been widely investigated for therapeutic applications due to the advantageous characteristics of long life-span, facile isolation, rapid proliferation, prolonged transgene expression, hypo-immunogenicity, and tumor tropism. MSCs can exert their therapeutic effects by releasing stress-induced therapeutic molecules after their rapid migration to damaged tissues. Recently, to improve the therapeutic efficacy, genetically engineered MSCs have been developed for therapeutic transgene expression by viral gene transduction and non-viral gene transfection. In general, the number of therapeutic cells for injection should be more than several millions for effective cell therapy. Adequate carriers for the controlled delivery of MSCs can reduce the required cell numbers and extend the duration of therapeutic effect, which provide great benefits for chronic disease patients. In this review, we describe genetic engineering of MSCs, recent progress of self-assembling supramolecular hydrogels, and their applications to cell therapy for intractable diseases and tissue regeneration.
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, Korea.
Byung Woo
BW
Hwang
Department of Life Sciences, 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, Korea.
Su Jin
SJ
Kim
Department of Chemistry, Division of Advanced Materials Science, Center for Self-assembly and Complexity, Institute for Basic Science, 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, Korea; Department of Nanomaterials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon 305-333, Korea.
Kyeng Min
KM
Park
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, Korea.
Hyemin
H
Kim
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, Korea.
Junseok
J
Yeom
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, Korea.
Jeong-A
JA
Yang
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, Korea.
Hyeonseon
H
Jeong
School of Interdisciplinary Bioscience and Bioengineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, Korea.
Hyuntae
H
Jung
Department of Chemistry, Division of Advanced Materials Science, Center for Self-assembly and Complexity, Institute for Basic Science, 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, Korea; School of Interdisciplinary Bioscience and Bioengineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, Korea. Electronic address: kkim@postech.ac.kr.
Kimoon
K
Kim
Department of Life Sciences, 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, Korea; School of Interdisciplinary Bioscience and Bioengineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, Korea. Electronic address: ycsung@postech.ac.kr.
Young Chul
YC
Sung
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, Korea; School of Interdisciplinary Bioscience and Bioengineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 77 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, Korea. Electronic address: skhanb@postech.ac.kr.
Sei Kwang
SK
Hahn
D000818:Animals; D003505:Cyclodextrins / Q000737:chemistry; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D045164:Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008812:Mice, Hairless; D012038:Regeneration; D018523:Tropism
D003505:Cyclodextrins; D020100:Hydrogels
Cell therapy; Hydrogel; Stem cell; Tissue regeneration; Transgene expression