Human Embryonic Stem Cells Derived Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells and their Use in Regenerative Medicine

Recently, studies focused on mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) as progenitor cells due to their capacity to regenerate mesodermal tissues such as cartilage, adipose and bone. However, there are practical and ethical challenges regarding the isolation of these cells from different sources (mainly bone marrow). The ability to produce MSCs from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) could be valuable to produce large amounts of genetically identical and modifiable MSCs that can be used to study the biology of MSCs and also, in the future cell therapy applications. In this mini review, we briefly focused on the advances in the differentiation of hESCs into MSCs and application of these cells as novel therapies in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.