间充质干细胞综述.pdfVIP

Cell Stem Cell Commentary Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Revisiting History, Concepts, and Assays Paolo Bianco,1,2,5,* Pamela Gehron Robey,3,5 and Paul J. Simmons4,5 1Department of Experimental Medicine and Pathology, La Sapienza University, 00161 Rome, Italy 2Biomedical Science Park San Raffaele, 00128 Rome, Italy 3Craniofacial and Skeletal Diseases Branch, Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA 4Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA 5These authors contributed equally to this work. *Correspondence: paolo.bianco@uniroma1.it DOI 10.1016/j.stem.2008.03.002 The concept of mesenchymal stem cells has gained wide popularity. Despite the rapid growth of the field, uncertainties remain with respect to the defining characteristics of these cells, including their potency and self-renewal. These uncertainties are reflected in a growing tendency to question the very use of the term. This commentary revisits the experimental origin of the concept of the population(s) referred to as mesenchy- mal stem cells and the experimental framework required to assess their stemness and function. The concept of stem cells originated at the end of the 19th cen- of chromosomal markers, 3H-thymidine labeling, through time- tury as a theoretical postulate to account for the ability of certain lapse photography, and by Poisson distribution statistics (Frie- tissues (blood, skin, etc.) to self-renew for the lifetime of an or- denstein, 1976; Friedenstein et al., 1970, 1974; Gronthos et al., ganism even though they are comprised of short-lived cells. 2003). In vivo transplantation led to the recognition that multiple Many years later, identification of stem cells as discrete cellular skeletal tissues (bone, cartilage, adipose tissue, and fibrous tis- entities