Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Dec 26, 2021; 13(12): 1826-1844
Published online Dec 26, 2021. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v13.i12.1826
Application of mesenchymal stem cells derived from human pluripotent stem cells in regenerative medicine
Tong-Ming Liu
Tong-Ming Liu, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Singapore 138648, Singapore
Author contributions: As the sole author and corresponding author of manuscript, Liu TM drafted the manuscript, including the tables and figure.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No competing financial interests exist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Tong-Ming Liu, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, 8A Biomedical Grove, Immunos, Singapore 138648, Singapore. dbsliutm@yahoo.com
Received: March 16, 2021
Peer-review started: March 16, 2021
First decision: May 5, 2021
Revised: June 29, 2021
Accepted: November 30, 2021
Article in press: November 30, 2021
Published online: December 26, 2021
Processing time: 283 Days and 17.7 Hours
Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represent the most clinically used stem cells in regenerative medicine. However, due to the disadvantages with primary MSCs, such as limited cell proliferative capacity and rarity in the tissues leading to limited MSCs, gradual loss of differentiation during in vitro expansion reducing the efficacy of MSC application, and variation among donors increasing the uncertainty of MSC efficacy, the clinical application of MSCs has been greatly hampered. MSCs derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC-MSCs) can circumvent these problems associated with primary MSCs. Due to the infinite self-renewal of hPSCs and their differentiation potential towards MSCs, hPSC-MSCs are emerging as an attractive alternative for regenerative medicine. This review summarizes the progress on derivation of MSCs from human pluripotent stem cells, disease modelling and drug screening using hPSC-MSCs, and various applications of hPSC-MSCs in regenerative medicine. In the end, the challenges and concerns with hPSC-MSC applications are also discussed.

Keywords: Human pluripotent stem cells; Differentiation; Mesenchymal stem cells; Regenerative medicine; Disease modelling; Drug screening

Core Tip: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) exhibit great potential in regenerative medicine. However, the clinical application of primary MSCs has been greatly hampered by the limitations of primary MSCs. MSCs derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC-MSCs) are an attractive source of cells to overcome such problems with primary MSCs. This review summarizes the various derivation approaches and applications of hPSC-MSCs in regenerative medicine. Lastly, the challenges with the use of hPSC-MSCs are also discussed, which indicate that more efforts are needed for the clinical application of hPSC-MSCs.