Division of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR.
Cytotherapy. 2011 Feb;13(2):145-55. doi: 10.3109/14653249.2010.509578. Epub 2010 Aug 24.
Stem cells are particularly attractive for many cell-based therapeutic interventions because of their ability to self-renew and their capacity to differentiate into site-specific differentiating cells. Restoration of the integrity of epithelial continuity is an essential aspect of wound repair and tissue regeneration. We are currently looking at the potential of human umbilical cord lining cells as a source of epithelial stem cells with appropriate differentiation capacity for potential epidermal reconstitution.
We isolated human umbilical cord lining epithelial cells (CLEC) and characterized their phenotype from the perspective of proliferative potential, telomere length, expression of epidermal differentiation markers, as well as stem cell-specific markers, and clonogenicity. Their potential for epidermal reconstitution was investigated in an organotypic culture model.
The results demonstrated that CLEC present a long telomere length and have a relatively high proliferative potential and passaging ability in culture. CLEC display some of the stem cell-specific markers for epithelial as well as pluripotent stem cells, including CK19, p63, OCT-4, SSEA-4, TRA-1-60, SOX2 and Nanog. CLEC are capable of generating a fully stratified epithelium in organotypic culture.
The potential of CLEC to be used in clinical applications for specialized epithelial reconstruction is still unexplored. The demonstration that CLEC have stem cell-like properties and are capable of generating fully stratified epithelium provides support for their potential clinical application in epidermal reconstitution.
干细胞因其自我更新能力和向特定部位分化细胞的能力，在许多基于细胞的治疗干预中特别有吸引力。上皮连续性的完整性的恢复是伤口修复和组织再生的一个重要方面。我们目前正在研究人脐带衬里细胞作为具有适当分化能力的上皮干细胞的来源，用于潜在的表皮重建。
我们从增殖潜力、端粒长度、表皮分化标志物以及干细胞特异性标志物的表达和克隆形成能力等方面，分离了人脐带衬里上皮细胞（CLEC）并对其表型进行了鉴定。我们在器官型培养模型中研究了它们用于表皮重建的潜力。
结果表明，CLEC 具有较长的端粒长度，在培养中有相对较高的增殖潜力和传代能力。CLEC 显示出一些上皮细胞和多能干细胞的干细胞特异性标志物，包括 CK19、p63、OCT-4、SSEA-4、TRA-1-60、SOX2 和 Nanog。CLEC 能够在器官型培养中产生完全分层的上皮。
CLEC 用于专门的上皮重建的临床应用的潜力仍未被探索。CLEC 具有干细胞样特性并能够产生完全分层的上皮这一事实为其在表皮重建中的潜在临床应用提供了支持。
