Stem Cells Potential Therapy for Age-Related Diseases
Stem Cells Potential Therapy for Age-Related Diseases
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DOI：
10.1196/annals.1354.062
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发表时间：
2006-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Kassem, Moustapha
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Kassem, Moustapha
衰老与人体组织和器官的逐渐衰竭有关，导致大量与年龄有关的疾病。再生医学是一门新兴的临床学科，旨在利用细胞医学（正常细胞，体外扩增细胞或组织工程器官）来恢复受损或有缺陷的组织和器官的功能，从而使衰老的身体“恢复活力”。细胞医学最重要的来源之一是胚胎和成体（体细胞）干细胞（SSC）。具有巨大临床潜力的SCC的一个例子是存在于骨髓中的间充质干细胞（MSC），并且能够分化成细胞类型，如成骨细胞、软骨细胞、内皮细胞，并且可能还有神经元样细胞。由于其易于分离和广泛的分化潜力，MSC是第一批引入临床的干细胞类型之一。最近的一些研究表明，MSC可能用于全身性疾病的全身移植，局部组织缺损的局部植入，作为基因治疗方案中基因的载体，或在组织工程方案中产生可移植的组织和器官。然而，在临床上使用这些细胞面临着一些挑战，从生物学挑战（例如，例如，在一个实施例中，如何从骨髓中分离具有特定标准的同质细胞群以及如何在不影响其分化潜能的情况下离体扩增它们）到生物技术挑战（例如，例如，在一个实施例中，如何开发简单的方法来控制基于细胞的产品的质量）。虽然预计细胞药物将减少几种与年龄有关的疾病的负担，但尚不清楚它们是否能改变衰老过程本身的进程，从而延长人类寿命。
Aging is associated with a progressive failing of tissues and organs of the human body leading to a large number of age-related diseases. Regenerative medicine is an emerging clinical discipline that aims to employ cellular medicines (normal cells, ex vivo expanded cells, or tissue-engineered organs) to restore the functions of damaged or defective tissues and organs and thus to "rejuvenate" the failing aging body. One of the most important sources for cellular medicine is embryonic and adult (somatic) stem cells (SSCs). One example of SCCs with enormous clinical potential is the mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that are present in the bone marrow and are able to differentiate into cell types such as osteoblasts, chondrocytes, endothelial cells, and probably also neuron-like cells. Because of the ease of their isolation and their extensive differentiation potential, MSCs are among the first stem cell types to be introduced in the clinic. Some recent studies have demonstrated the possible use of MSCs in systemic transplantation for systemic diseases, local implantation for local tissue defects, as a vehicle for genes in gene therapy protocols, or to generate transplantable tissues and organs in tissue-engineering protocols. However, several challenges confront the use of these cells in the clinic, ranging from biological challenges (e. g., how to isolate a homogenous populations of the cells with specific criteria from the bone marrow and how to expand them ex vivo without affecting their differentiation potential) to biotechnological challenges (e. g., howto develop easy methods for quality control of the cellular-based products). While it is expected that cellular medicines will decrease the burden of several age-related diseases, it is not clear whether they can change the course of the aging process itself and thus prolong human life.