Stem Cells International (Jan 2017)

Can Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Stromal Cells Serve a Starting Material for Myoblasts?

  • Yu Ando,
  • Marie Saito,
  • Masakazu Machida,
  • Chikako Yoshida-Noro,
  • Hidenori Akutsu,
  • Masataka Takahashi,
  • Masashi Toyoda,
  • Akihiro Umezawa

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/7541734
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2017

Abstract

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A large number of myocytes are necessary to treat intractable muscular disorders such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy with cell-based therapies. However, starting materials for cellular therapy products such as myoblasts, marrow stromal cells, menstrual blood-derived cells, and placenta-derived cells have a limited lifespan and cease to proliferate in vitro. From the viewpoints of manufacturing and quality control, cells with a long lifespan are more suitable as a starting material. In this study, we generated stromal cells for future myoblast therapy from a working cell bank of human embryonic stem cells (ESCs). The ESC-derived CD105+ cells with extensive in vitro proliferation capability exhibited myogenesis and genetic stability in vitro. These results imply that ESC-derived CD105+ cells are another cell source for myoblasts in cell-based therapy for patients with genetic muscular disorders. Since ESCs are immortal, mesenchymal stromal cells generated from ESCs can be manufactured at a large scale in one lot for pharmaceutical purposes.