Identification of Human Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stromal Cells and Donor Impact on Differentiation, Cell Surface Markers and Proliferation

Sammanfattning

Background: Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are found in many tissues in the body and possesses immunomodulatory properties including anti-inflammatory effects, making them great candidates for therapeutic applications such as cellular therapy. However, MSCs comprise a heterogeneous cell population which poses various challenges for clinical usage. The heterogeneity of MSCs can arise from various donor-related factors, such as age, gender and health status, and have major impact on MSCs characteristics and possibly their therapeutic potential. To ensure identification of MSCs that uphold necessary standards, minimal criteria were established. According to these criteria, the cells should adhere to plastic, express specific cell surface markers and differentiate into adipocytes, osteocytes and chondrocytes. Aim: This study aimed to identify and characterize MSCs derived from human bone marrow, as well as examine the impact of donor age and gender. Methods: MSCs from five donors were cultured to investigate proliferation rate. Differentiation was induced and detected with fluorescent immunohistochemistry. Cell surface markers CD45, CD73, CD90 and CD105 were analyzed with flowcytometry. Clonogenicity were examined with CFU-F assay. Results and Conclusion: The cells from all five donors had multiple characteristics corresponding to the minimal criteria for mesenchymal stromal cells, but could not with certainty be identified as MSCs without additional cell surface marker analysis. A high donor-to-donor variation could be observed between cell lines regarding proliferation, differentiation ability and self-renewal capacity. Donor age and gender may impact the biological properties of MSCs, although this requires further studies with an expanded number of donors to establish with certainty.