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World J Stem Cells. Jul 26, 2014; 6(3): 278-287
Published online Jul 26, 2014. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v6.i3.278
Mesenchymal stem cells for treatment of aortic aneurysms
Aika Yamawaki-Ogata, Ryotaro Hashizume, Xian-Ming Fu, Akihiko Usui, Yuji Narita
Aika Yamawaki-Ogata, Xian-Ming Fu, Akihiko Usui, Yuji Narita, Department of Cardiac Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan
Ryotaro Hashizume, Department of Pathology and Matrix Biology, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsu-Mie 514-8507, Japan
Xian-Ming Fu, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China
Author contributions: Yamawaki-Ogata A, Hashizume R and Fu XM performed the research; Yamawaki-Ogata A and Narita Y wrote the paper; Usui A and Narita Y reviewed the final manuscript.
Correspondence to: Yuji Narita, MD, PhD, Department of Cardiac Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-Ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan. ynarita@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-52-7442376 Fax: +81-52-7442383
Received: November 15, 2013
Revised: January 21, 2014
Accepted: May 8, 2014
Published online: July 26, 2014
Processing time: 246 Days and 3.5 Hours
Abstract

An aortic aneurysm (AA) is a silent but life-threatening disease that involves rupture. It occurs mainly in aging and severe atherosclerotic damage of the aortic wall. Even though surgical intervention is effective to prevent rupture, surgery for the thoracic and thoraco-abdominal aorta is an invasive procedure with high mortality and morbidity. Therefore, an alternative strategy for treatment of AA is required. Recently, the molecular pathology of AA has been clarified. AA is caused by an imbalance between the synthesis and degradation of extracellular matrices in the aortic wall. Chronic inflammation enhances the degradation of matrices directly and indirectly, making control of the chronic inflammation crucial for aneurysmal development. Meanwhile, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are known to be obtained from an adult population and to differentiate into various types of cells. In addition, MSCs have not only the potential anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties but also can be recruited into damaged tissue. MSCs have been widely used as a source for cell therapy to treat various diseases involving graft-versus-host disease, stroke, myocardial infarction, and chronic inflammatory disease such as Crohn’s disease clinically. Therefore, administration of MSCs might be available to treat AA using anti-inflammatory and immnosuppressive properties. This review provides a summary of several studies on “Cell Therapy for Aortic Aneurysm” including our recent data, and we also discuss the possibility of this kind of treatment.

Keywords: Aortic aneurysm; Mesenchymal stem cells; Cell therapy; Elastin; Chronic inflammation; Extracellular matrices; Macrophages; Matrix metalloproteinases

Core tip: Aortic aneurysm (AA) is caused by an imbalance between synthesis and degradation of extracellular matrices (ECMs) such as collagen and elastin in the aortic wall. The chronic inflammation enhances the degradation of ECMs directly and indirectly. We hypothesized that administration of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) might be able to treat AA given the anti-inflammatory and immune-suppressive potential of MSC. In this article, we review papers that attempt to treat AA using MSCs with our recent results, as well as review the molecular pathogenesis of AA and characteristics of MSC.