Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Jan 26, 2022; 14(1): 142-145
Published online Jan 26, 2022. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v14.i1.142
Insight into generation of induced mesenchymal stem cells from induced pluripotent cells
Mahmood S Choudhery, Ruhma Mahmood
Mahmood S Choudhery, Department of Biomedical Sciences, King Edward Medical University, Lahore 54000, Punjab, Pakistan
Mahmood S Choudhery, Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of Health Sciences, Lahore 54600, Punjab, Pakistan
Ruhma Mahmood, Stem Cells Laboratory, Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore 54000, Punjab, Pakistan
Author contributions: Choudhery MS and Mahmood R searched the literature and designed and wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors do not have any financial conflict of interest.
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: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mahmood S Choudhery, PhD, Tenured Associate Professor, Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of Health Sciences, Khayaban-e-Jamia Punjab, Lahore 54600, Punjab, Pakistan. ms20031@yahoo.com
Received: September 9, 2021
Peer-review started: September 9, 2021
First decision: October 17, 2021
Revised: October 25, 2021
Accepted: December 23, 2021
Article in press: December 23, 2021
Published online: January 26, 2022
Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the potential for use in cell-based regenerative therapies. Currently, hundreds of clinical trials are using MSCs for the treatment of various diseases. However, MSCs are low in number in adult tissues; they show heterogeneity depending upon the cell source and exhibit limited proliferative potential and early senescence in in vitro cultures. These factors negatively impact the regenerative potential of MSCs and therefore restrict their use for clinical applications. As a result, novel methods to generate induced MSCs (iMSCs) from induced pluripotent stem cells have been explored. The development and optimization of protocols for generation of iMSCs from induced pluripotent stem cells is necessary to evaluate their regenerative potential in vivo and in vitro. In addition, it is important to compare iMSCs with primary MSCs (isolated from adult tissues) in terms of their safety and efficacy. Careful investigation of the properties of iMSCs in vitro and their long term behavior in animals is important for their translation from bench to bedside.

Keywords: Induced mesenchymal stem cells, Induced pluripotent stem cells, Regenerative potential, Pluripotent, Multipotent, Clinical studies

Core Tip: Regenerative potential of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been explored in a number of preclinical and clinical studies for the treatment of various diseases and disorders. However, factors such as low number of MSCs in donor tissues, heterogeneity, limited in vitro proliferative potential and early senescence in in vitro cultures restrict MSC use clinically. Novel methods to generate induced MSCs from induced pluripotent stem cells have been explored. Development and optimization of such protocols is necessary to evaluate the regenerative potential of induced MSCs in vivo and in vitro.