Theoharides T C, Kempuraj D, Tagen M, Vasiadi M, Cetrulo C L
Department of Laboratory of Molecular Immunopharmacology and Drug Discovery, Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Stem Cell Rev. 2006;2(2):143-54. doi: 10.1007/s12015-006-0021-z.
Findings obtained using animal models have often failed to reflect the processes involved in human disease. Moreover, human cultured cells do not necessarily function as their actual tissue counterparts. Therefore, there is great demand for sources of human progenitor cells that may be directed to acquire specific tissue characteristics and be available in sufficient quantities to carry out functional and pharmacological studies. Acase in point is the mast cell, well known for its involvement in allergic reactions, but also implicated in inflammatory diseases. Mast cells can be activated by allergens, anaphylatoxins, immunoglobulin-free light chains, superantigens, neuropeptides, and cytokines, leading to selective release of mediators. These could be involved in many inflammatory diseases, such as asthma and atopic dermatitis, which worsen by stress, through activation by local release of corticotropin-releasing hormone or related peptides. Umbilical cord blood and cord matrix-derived mast cell progenitors can be separated magnetically and grown in the presence of stem cell factor, interleukin-6, interleukin-4, and other cytokines to yield distinct mast cell populations. The recent use of live cell array, with its ability to study such interactions rapidly at the single-cell level, provides unique new opportunities for fast output screening of mast cell triggers and inhibitors.
使用动物模型获得的研究结果往往无法反映人类疾病所涉及的过程。此外，人类培养细胞不一定能像其实际的组织对应物那样发挥功能。因此，对人类祖细胞来源的需求很大，这些祖细胞可以被引导获得特定的组织特征，并能有足够的数量用于进行功能和药理学研究。一个恰当的例子是肥大细胞，它因参与过敏反应而闻名，但也与炎症性疾病有关。肥大细胞可被过敏原、过敏毒素、无免疫球蛋白轻链、超抗原、神经肽和细胞因子激活，从而导致介质的选择性释放。这些介质可能参与许多炎症性疾病，如哮喘和特应性皮炎，这些疾病会因压力而恶化，通过促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素或相关肽的局部释放激活。脐血和脐带基质来源的肥大细胞祖细胞可以通过磁性分离，并在干细胞因子、白细胞介素-6、白细胞介素-4和其他细胞因子存在的情况下生长，以产生不同的肥大细胞群体。最近使用活细胞阵列，能够在单细胞水平快速研究此类相互作用，为肥大细胞触发因素和抑制剂的快速输出筛选提供了独特的新机会。
