14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists are looking for stem cell sources in hybrid cow-human embryos or bones, skin and fat tissue, and the solution could be simpler that ever thought. Menstrual blood could be an unlimited, noncontroversial, easily collectable, and inexpensive source of stem cells, as pointed out by a new research published in the Cell Transplantation.
Stromal stem cells are found in connective tissues, including the endometrial ones (in the uterine wall). When tissue and blood vessels are shed with each menstrual cycle, some menstrual blood stromal cells (MenSCs) can be recovered in a totally non-invasive way.
"Stromal stem cells derived from menstrual blood exhibit stem cell properties, such as the capacity for self-renewal and multipotency. Uterine stromal cells have similar multipotent markers found in bone marrow stem cells and originate in part from bone marrow," said Dr. Amit N. Patel, Director of Cardiac Cell Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine.
MenSCs have been found to be able to differentiate into adipogenic (fat), chondrogenic (cartilage), osteogenic (bone), ectodermal (skin), mesodermal (muscle), cardiogenic (heart), and neural cell types.
"The MenSCs expanded rapidly and maintained greater than 50% of their telomerase activity (involved in cell's lifespan) when compared to human embryonic stem cells and better than bone marrow-derived stem cells. Studies have demonstrated that MenSCs are easily expandable to clinical relevance and express multipotent markers at both the molecular and cellular level," concluded Patel.
Stem cells recovered from menstrual blood seem to have a big future in regenerative transplantation therapies for various organs and tissues.
"The ideal cell would have the ability to be used in an allogenic manner (from one individual to another) from donors for optimal immunogenic compatibility. Due to their ease of collection and isolation, MenSCs would be a great source of multipotent cells if they exhibit this property along with their ability to differentiate. The preliminary results are extremely encouraging and support the importance of further study of these cells in several different areas including heart disease, diabetes and neurodegenerative disease," said Dr. Julie G. Allickson, Vice President of Laboratory Operations and Research & Development, Cryo-Cell International, Inc., the company that identified, extracted, and started the investigation of these cells.