Perinatal Stem Cells In Regenerative Medicine: Methods To Characterize Their Biological And Functional Properties

TOPICAL COLLECTIONS

Guest Editors

Ana I. Flores

Research Institute Hospital 12 de Octubre (imas12), Regenerative Medicine Group

Dr. Ana I. Flores is the Principal Investigator of the Regenerative Medicine Group of the Research Institute Hospital 12 de Octubre (imas12) in Madrid, Spain. She obtained her Degree in Pharmacy with high honour at the University of Salamanca, and her PhD in Chemical Sciences at the Department of Molecular Biology, Center of Molecular Biology Severo Ochoa (CBMSO) at the University Autonoma of Madrid in Spain. Dr. Flores Thesis Dissertation was awarded with the degree summa cum laude and received the PhD Award from the University Autonoma de Madrid. She completed a postdoctoral research in the United States at the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Case Western Reserve University and at Department of Neurosciences, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, both institutions in Cleveland, Ohio. During her postdoctoral tuition at the Cleveland Clinic, she was awarded with a Post-doctoral Fellowship Grant and with the Dale McFarlin Travel Award, both prices from The National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Following her postdoctoral training, she joined the Hospital 12 de Octubre in Madrid with a research contract from the National Health System del Instituto de Salud Carlos III to start a new research area focused in the isolation, characterization and preclinical/translational studies about placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells obtained. The work about “Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Human Placenta” was recognized as “One of the best Ideas in the Health System from the Year 2010” in the area Research and Farmacology. The lines of research in which she has been working and / or collaborating in the use of these perinatal stem cells in the in vivo regeneration of tissues in several pathologies, in their in vitro differentiation and serve as in vitro models for the study of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of those pathologies, and as cellular carriers of therapeutic agents included in nanoparticles, plasmids, etc.

Paz de la Torre

Research Institute Hospital 12 de Octubre (imas12), Regenerative Medicine Group

Dr. Paz de la Torre received her B.S. and her PhD in Biology from Universidad Autonoma of Madrid. She worked in the Gastroenterology research group of the Hospital 12 de Octubre until 2004, and in the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) research group until 2011. She is currently a senior scientists in the Regenerative Medicine group working in the use of adult stem cells from human placenta in preclinical models of tissue regeneration, in their differentiation potential to various cell types, and in cell therapy in treatment of tumor and inflammatory processes.

Collection Overview

Perinatal stem cells appear as a real chance of cell-based therapy for several diseases. These stem cells share characteristics with adult stem cells as well as embryonic stem cells. Diverse types of stem cells can be isolated from the different perinatal tissues, such as, umbilical cord, Wharton’s Jelly, chorionic and amniotic membranes, decidua, chorionic plate, chorionic villi, and amniotic fluid, which are normally discarded as a medical waste. Among the different perinatal stem cells, the most common used cells are hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), epithelial stem cells, and mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC).

Regenerative and immunomodulatory actions of perinatal stem cells have been suggested to be mediated in a paracrine form by a series of not yet fully identified factors. These factors are secreted either as soluble proteins or entrapped in extracellular vesicles (EVs). It is necessary to understand the biological and functional properties of the different perinatal stem cells to choose the best cell type to treat each disease.

Functional properties of perinatal stem cells can vary depending on the isolation and the in vitro expansion methods as well as on the in vivo administration route. It is also important to identify the molecules involved in their therapeutic effects either through regeneration of damaged tissue or regulation of the immune system.

The goal of this Collection is to provide broader access to existing methods of isolation and in vitro expansion of the different perinatal stem cells, as well as, to the identification of paracrine factors (soluble or secreted in EVs) and their mechanisms of action, in addition to the current pre-clinical and clinical applications.