Department of Pathophysiology, Nankai University School of Medicine, Tianjin, China.
Histol Histopathol. 2012 Jul;27(7):827-33. doi: 10.14670/HH-27.827.
The progress of stem cell research, along with technological innovation, has brought researchers to focus on the potential role of stem cells in regenerative medicine. Ethical and technological issues have limited the applications of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in this field. As a promising candidate, very small embryonic-like stem cells (VSELs) express a multitude of pluripotent stem cell markers and demonstrate the ability to differentiate into three germ-layer lineages in vitro. Optimized methods for isolation and expansion of VSELs have aroused the scientific community's interest in use of this kind of cells for regenerative purposes. In this review, we will focus on the biological characteristics, as well as the potentiality and remaining challenges in clinical application of VSELs. Moreover, a comparison among VSELs and the other pluripotent stem cells will be illustrated to highlight the unique advantages of VSELs.
干细胞研究的进展以及技术创新使研究人员开始关注干细胞在再生医学中的潜在作用。然而，伦理和技术问题限制了人胚胎干细胞（hESC）在该领域的应用。作为一种很有前途的候选细胞，非常小的胚胎样干细胞（VSELs）表达多种多能干细胞标志物，并表现出体外分化为三个胚层谱系的能力。优化的 VSELs 分离和扩增方法引起了科学界对这种细胞用于再生目的的兴趣。在这篇综述中，我们将重点介绍 VSELs 的生物学特性，以及其在临床应用中的潜力和尚存的挑战。此外，我们还将对 VSELs 与其他多能干细胞进行比较，以突出 VSELs 的独特优势。
