Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are a heterogeneous population of adult stem cells, which are multipotent and possess the ability to differentiate/transdifferentiate into mesodermal and nonmesodermal cell lineages. MSCs display broad immunomodulatory properties since they are capable of secreting growth factors and chemotactic cytokines. Safety, accessibility, and isolation from patients without ethical concern make MSCs valuable sources for cell therapy approaches in autoimmune, inflammatory, and degenerative diseases. Many studies have been conducted on the application of MSCs as a new therapy, but it seems that a low percentage of them is related to clinical trials, especially completed clinical trials. Considering the importance of clinical trials to develop this type of therapy as a new treatment, the current paper is aimed at describing characteristics of MSCs and reviewing relevant clinical studies registered on the NIH database during 2016-2020 to discuss recent advances on MSC-based therapeutic approaches being used in different diseases.

Background Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common NDs leading to cognitive dysfunctions and dementia which are progressively worsen with age. Cell therapy is currently of particular interest in treatment of neurodegenerative disease (ND) such as AD. However, the effective treatment for AD is yet to be found. Objective In this study, the possible roles of human umbilical mesnchymal stromal cord (hUMSCs) and adipose mesenchymal stem cells (hAD-MSCs) in neurogenesis and synaptic function were investigated using a β-amyloid 1–42 (β A42)-induced AD rat model. Methods hUMSCs and hAD-MSCs were isolated from umbilical cord stroma and adipose tissue, respectively. The expression of Mesenchymal (CD73, CD90 and CD105) and hematopoietic (CD45 and CD133) markers of hUMSCs and hAD-MSCs were confirmed by flow cytometry. Alzheimer's rat model was created by β-amyloid 1–42 injection into the hippocampus and confirmed by Morris Water Maze and immunohistochemical staining. hUMSCs and hAD-MSCs were injected in Alzheimer's rat model, intravenously. Deposition of β-amyloid in the CA1 of hippocampus was assayed 3 months after cell administration. The expression of synaptophysin and GAP43 proteins was assessed by Western blot. Neural death was assessed by Nissl staining. Results The data obtained from flow cytometry showed that surface mesenchymal and hematopoteic markers of the fibroblastic like cells isolated from adipose tissue and umbilical cord were expressed highly in hUMSCs and mostly in hAD-SCs. Transplantation of MSCs reduced β-amyloid deposition in the hippocampus of the AD rats compared to the β-amyloid group. The rate of neuronal cell death in the hippocampus of the β-amyloid-treated rats was significantly increased compared to that of the control group. The percentage of apoptotic cells in this group was 72.98 ± 1.25, which was significantly increased compared to the control group. Transplantation of either hUMSCs or hAD-SCs, respectively, resulted in a significant reduction in the apoptotic rate of the neuronal cells in the hippocampus by 39.47 ± 0.01 ( p = 0.0001) and 43.23 ± 0.577 ( p = 0.001) compared to the β-amyloid group. MSC transplantation resulted in a significant up-regulation in the expression levels of both synaptogenic (synaptophysin) and neurogenic markers (GAP43) by 1.289 ± 0.112 ( P = 0.02) and 1.112 ± 0.106 ( P = 0.005) fold in the hUMSCs-treated group and 1.174 ± 0.105 ( P = 0.04) and 0.978 ± 0.167 ( P = 0.008) fold in the hAD-SCs-treated group, respectively. Conclusion Intravenous injection of hUMSCs and hAD-MSCs is a safe approach that improves synaptic function and neurogenesis via up-regulation of synaptophysin and GAP43 protein expression levels, respectively, in Alzheimer's model. Intravenous injec...

Background of differentiatio of human UmbMethods: In respectively. T hUMSCs were culture with hA expression of immunocytoch Results: The hematopoietic the expression On the other ha Conclusion: the number of d