Differential Gene Expression Profiling of Human Umbilical Cord Blood–Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells by DNA Microarray

Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) retain both self-renewal and multilineage differentiation capabilities. Despite wide therapeutic potential, many aspects of human MSCs, particularly the molecular parameters to define the stemness, remain largely unknown. Using high-density oligonucleotide microarrays, we obtained the differential gene expression profile between a fraction of mononuclear cells of human umbilical cord blood (UCB) and its MSC subpopulation. Of particular interest was a subset of 47 genes preferentially expressed at 50-fold or higher in MSCs, which could be regarded as a molecular foundation of human MSCs. This subset contains numerous genes encoding collagens, other extracellular matrix or related proteins, cytokines or growth factors, and cytoskeleton-associated proteins but very few genes for membrane and nuclear proteins. In addition, a direct comparison of this microarray-generated transcriptome with the published serial analysis of gene expression data suggests that a molecular context of UCB-derived MSCs is more or less similar to that of bone marrow-derived cells. Altogether, our results will provide a basis for studies on molecular mechanisms controlling core properties of human MSCs. Stem Cells 2005;23:584-593

Tissue engineering: strategies, stem cells and scaffolds

“…The analysis of their gene expression profile reveals similarities to BM-MSCs (Jeong et al 2005), with an ability to differentiate into adipocytes, osteoblasts (Lee et al 2004), hepatocytes (Kang et al 2006) and neuronal-like cells (Hou et al 2003).…”

Fibroblast growth factor-4 and hepatocyte growth factor induce differentiation of human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells into hepatocytes

“…Fibroblast growth factor-4 and hepatocyte growth factor induce differentiation of human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells into hepatocytes that they are similar to bone marrow-derived MSCs not only with respect to cellular properties and multilineage differentiation potential, but also with respect to their molecular context [19,20] . It was reported that HUCB-derived MSCs could differentiate into mesoderm cells such as osteoblasts, adipocytes [21] , neuron-like cells [19,22] , and cardiomyocytes [23,24] .…”

“…Concentrations of AFP and albumin in the changed medium were determined by radioimmunoassay on d 4,8,12,16,20,24, and 28. Since there might be a very small amount of AFP and albumin in the changed medium, the medium was condensed 5 times by freeze drying before radioimmunoassay.…”

Human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cell transplantation suppresses inflammatory responses and neuronal apoptosis during early stage of focal cerebral ischemia in rabbits

“…Therefore, the elucidation of potential mechanisms is vital for the further development of stem cell therapy techniques and, ultimately, their translation to the bedside. A number of proposed mechanisms have been investigated in preclinical cerebral ischemia models, including the formation of new neuronal circuitry, reduced apoptosis, promotion of angiogenesis, neurogenesis, and other endogenous www.nature.com/aps Zhu Y et al Acta Pharmacologica Sinica npg repair processes [3][4][5][6] .…”