Stem cell donation

Umbilical cord blood is a rich source of hematopoietic stem cells that has been used for transplantation for over 30 years, especially when there is no compatible hematopoietic stem cell donor available. Its use has decreased more recently, since the development of methods to improve haploidentical transplants has allowed the use of mobilized peripheral blood as a source of hematopoietic stem cells. Public cord blood banks collect, process and store cord blood samples from voluntary donations. In addition, many public banks are involved in research to enhance hematopoietic stem cell therapies and develop new treatments for haematological and genetic diseases...

Patients with poor ovarian response (POR) and premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) are challenging to treat, with oocyte donation remaining as the only feasible option to achieve pregnancy in some cases. The Autologous stem cell ovarian transplantation (ASCOT) technique allows follicle development, enabling pregnancies and births of healthy babies in these patients. Previous results suggest that growth factors and cytokines secreted by stem cells are partially responsible for their regenerative properties...

BACKGROUND: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has been performed in Singapore since 1985. Currently, more than 100 transplants are performed annually across the public and private sectors. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented disruptions to global healthcare systems, and Singapore was no exception. In particular, the field of HSCT faced additional, unique challenges aside from those borne by the healthcare system at large, and appropriate measures were necessary to ensure that HSCT remained available to patients who needed it...

The purpose of tissue engineering is to reconstruct parts of injured tissues and to resolve the shortage of organ donations. However, the main concern is the limited size of engineered tissue due to insufficient oxygen and nutrition distribution in large three-dimensional (3D) tissue constructs. To provide better support for cells inside the scaffolds, the vascularization of blood vessels within the scaffold could be a solution. This study compared the effects of different culturing systems using human adipose tissue-derived stem/stromal cells (ASCs), human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), and coculture of ASCs and HUVECs in 3D-bioprinted gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogel constructs...

Mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episode (MELAS) syndrome, caused by a single base substitution in mitochondrial DNA (m.3243A>G), is one of the most common maternally inherited mitochondrial diseases accompanied by neuronal damage due to defects in the oxidative phosphorylation system. There is no established treatment. Our previous study reported a superior restoration of mitochondrial function and bioenergetics in mitochondria-deficient cells using highly purified mesenchymal stem cells (RECs)...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the Runx2 gene can induce the differentiation of human amniotic mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSCs) to ligament fibroblasts in vitro and promote the tendon-bone healing in rabbits. METHODS: hAMSCs were isolated from the placentas voluntarily donated from healthy parturients and passaged, and then identified by flow cytometric identification. Adenoviral vectors carrying Runx2 gene (Ad-Runx2) and empty vector adenovirus (Ad-NC) were constructed and viral titer assay; then, the 3rd generation hAMSCs were transfected with Ad-Runx2 (Ad-Runx2 group) or Ad-NC (Ad-NC group)...

At present, recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cells are still suffering from recurrent infections after transplantation. Infusion of virus-specific T cells (VST) post-transplant reportedly fights several viruses without increasing the risk of de novo graft-versus-host disease. This study targeted cytomegalovirus (CMV) for the development of an innovative approach for generating a very specific VST product following Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) guidelines. We used a sterile disposable compartment named the Leukoreduction System Chamber (LRS-chamber) from the apheresis platelet donation kit as the starting material, which has demonstrated high levels of T cells...

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are one of the few stem cell types used in clinical practice as therapeutic agents for immunomodulation and ischemic tissue repair, due to their unique paracrine capacity, multiple differentiation potential, active components in exosomes, and effective mitochondria donation. At present, MSCs derived from tissues such as bone marrow and umbilical cord are widely applied in preclinical and clinical studies. Nevertheless, there remain challenges to the maintenance of consistently good quality MSCs derived from different donors or tissues, directly impacting their application as advanced therapy products...

Mutations in the gene encoding the transient receptor potential vanilloid member 4 (TRPV4), a Ca2+ permeable nonselective cation channel, cause TRPV4-related disorders. TRPV4 is widely expressed in the brain; however, the pathogenesis underlying TRPV4-mediated Ca2+ deregulation in neurodevelopment remains unresolved and an effective therapeutic strategy remains to be established. These issues were addressed by isolating mutant dental pulp stem cells from a tooth donated by a child diagnosed with metatropic dysplasia with neurodevelopmental comorbidities caused by a gain-of-function TRPV4 mutation, c...

Background: Platelets play a key role in the treatment of thrombocytopenia. Nowadays, platelets (PLTs) are only obtained through blood donation. However, due to the limitations in their preparation and storage, they are produced in laboratories, especially through bioreactors that convert megakaryocytes from stem cells into large-scale injectable PLTs. Materials and Methods: In this study, the CD34 cells isolated from cord blood were differentiated into megakaryocytes. A 6-chamber bioreactor with a two-layer collagen scaffold, several ECM factors, and human cryoprecipitate were used to simulate the structure of the bone marrow...

Healthy volunteer donors are committed to contributing key medical resources. Repeated, regular donation of whole blood represents a specific trigger of hematopoietic stress. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are known to respond to environmental triggers by altering their differentiation and/or proliferative behavior. This can manifest in long-term changes in the clonal dynamics of HSCs, such as the age-associated expansion of HSCs carrying somatic mutations in genes associated with hematologic cancers-that is, clonal hematopoiesis (CH)...

Following hematopoietic cell transplantation, recipients are subjected to extensive genetic testing to monitor the efficacy of the transplant and identify relapsing malignant disease. This testing increasingly includes the use of large gene panels which may lead to incidental identification of genetic and molecular information of potential donor origin. Deciphering whether variants are of donor origin, and if so, whether there are clinical implications for the donor, can prove challenging. In response to queries from donor registries and transplant centers regarding best practice in managing donors when genetic mutations of potential donor origin are identified, the Medical Working Group of the World Marrow Donor Association established an expert group to review available evidence and to develop a framework to aid decision-making...

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the effects of photobiomodulation (PBM) and conditioned medium (CM) derived from human adipose-derived stem cells (h-ASCs), both individually and in combination, on the maturation stage of an ischemic infected delayed healing wound model (IIDHWM) in type I diabetic (TIDM) rats. METHODS: The study involved the extraction of h-ASCs from donated fat, assessment of their immunophenotypic markers, cell culture, and extraction and concentration of CM from cultured 1 × 10^6 h-ASCs...

BACKGROUND: Assisted reproduction faces a significant obstacle in the form of poor ovarian response (POR) to controlled ovarian stimulation. To address this challenge, mesenchymal stem cell therapy has been proposed as a potential treatment for female infertility and/or restoration of ovarian function in POR women. Our previous research has demonstrated that menstrual blood-derived-mesenchymal stromal cells (MenSCs) injected into the ovaries of women with POR can increase pregnancy rates...

Glioblastoma is the most common primary brain cancer in adults and represents one of the worst cancer diagnoses for patients. Suffering from a poor prognosis and limited treatment options, tumor recurrences are virtually inevitable. Additionally, treatment resistance is very common for this disease and worsens the prognosis. These and other factors are hypothesized to be largely due to the fact that glioblastoma cells are known to be able to obtain stem-like traits, thereby driving these phenotypes. Recently, we have shown that the in vitro and ex vivo treatment of glioblastoma stem-like cells with the hormonally active form of vitamin D3 , calcitriol (1α,25(OH)2 -vitamin D3 ) can block stemness in a subset of cell lines and reduce tumor growth...

Chemotherapy can cause ovarian dysfunction and infertility since the ovary is extremely sensitive to chemotherapeutic drugs. Apart from the indispensable role of the ovary in the overall hormonal milieu, ovarian dysfunction also affects many other organ systems and functions including sexuality, bones, the cardiovascular system, and neurocognitive function. Although conventional hormone replacement therapy can partly relieve the adverse symptoms of premature ovarian insufficiency (POI), the treatment cannot fundamentally prevent deterioration of POI...

Glioblastoma is a very aggressive tumor and represents the most common primary brain malignancy. Key characteristics include its high resistance against conventional treatments, such as radio- and chemotherapy and its diffuse tissue infiltration, preventing complete surgical resection. The analysis of migration and invasion processes in a physiological microenvironment allows for enhanced understanding of these phenomena and can lead to improved therapeutic approaches. Here, we combine two state-of-the-art techniques, adult organotypic brain tissue slice culture (OTC) and light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) of cleared tissues in a combined method termed OTCxLSFM...

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are adult pluripotent stem cells which have been widely used in regenerative medicine. As somatic tissue-derived MSCs are restricted by limited donation, quality variations, and biosafety, the past 10 years have seen a great rise in efforts to generate MSCs from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). Past and recent efforts in the differentiation of hiPSCs into MSCs have been centered around two culture methodologies: (1) the formation of embryoid bodies (EBs) and (2) the use of monolayer culture...

INTRODUCTION: We report a case of an adult hematopoietic stem cell donor who developed active severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection during the donation of stem cells, the final transplantation was successfully completed without SARS-CoV-2 transmission. CASE REPORT: We report on a 34-year-old female diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who underwent hemiploid hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Both patient and donor received three doses of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine before transplantation...

INTRODUCTION: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is performed worldwide to treat blood cancer and other life-threatening blood disorders. As successful transplantation requires an HLA-compatible donor, unrelated donor centers and registries have been established worldwide to identify donors for patients without a family match. Ethnic minorities are underrepresented in large donor registries. Matching probabilities are higher when donors and patients share the same ethnic background, making it desirable to increase the diversity of the global donor pool by recruiting donors in new regions...