A comparative study of induced pluripotent stem cells generated from frozen, stocked bone marrow- and adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells.

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AMSCs) have been used clinically for tissue regeneration; however, their proliferation/differentiation potentials are limited. Recently, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), known to have nearly unlimited potential to proliferate and differentiate into cells of all three germ layers, have gained wide interest in regenerative medicine. Here, we generated iPSCs from frozen-stocked AMSCs and BMSCs and examined their biological characteristics by comparative analyses. Although the iPSCs were more challenging to generate from the BMSCs than the AMSCs, both iPSC populations expressed pluripotent markers, such as stage-specific embryonic antigen (SSEA)-3, SSEA-4, tumour-related antigens (TRAs) TRA-1-60 and TRA-1-81, OCT3/4 and NANOG. Furthermore, both cell populations differentiated well into three germ layer-derived cells, both in vitro and in vivo. These results indicate that iPSCs derived from frozen AMSCs/BMSCs exhibit equally acceptable iPSC characteristics and have potential in clinical applications as an alternative source of autogenous stem cells.