Tonsil-derived stem cells as a new source of adult stem cells

Figure 1 Possible reason enables diversity in tonsil-derived stem cells differentiation; constitutive features of tonsil. Zygote has most powerful differentiation potential (totipotent). It was able to differentiate to all human anatomies and to become human body. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are derived from the inner cell mass of the early embryo. ESCs also has great developmental potential and was able to differentiate to all cell lineages of an organism except for extraembryonic tissues (pluripotent). It is well known that ectodermal or endodermal differentiation is often difficult to achieve with mesenchymal stem cells isolated from bone marrow and adipose tissue (multipotent). Tonsil tissues consist of two different origin tissues; epithelial cells from endoderm origin and lymphoid tissues from mesoderm origin.

Figure 2 Differentiation potential of tonsil-derived stem cells. The multi-potency of the tonsil-derived stem cells (T-SCs) is confirmed in many studies. Under the proper conditions and signals (box), T-SCs can be differentiated into non-mesenchymal lineage, such as ectodermal differentiation (neurons, and Schwann-like cells) and endodermal cells (parathyroid like cells, islet cells and hepatocytes). T-MSCs: Tonsil- mesenchymal stem cells.