Mesenchymal Stem Cells Derived from Wharton’s Jelly and their Potential for Cardio-Vascular Tissue Engineering

Experimental results accumulated during last decade suggest that human perinatal tissues such as placenta, fetal membranes, and umbilical cord, as well as perinatal fluids such as, amniotic fluid and umbilical cord blood, harbour different amounts of multipotent precursor cells, called extra-embryonic mesenchymal stem cells (EE-MSCs). Perinatal EE-MSCs represent an intermediate cell type between pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and multipotent MSCs derived from variety of postnatal human tissues, such as bone marrow, fat, dental pulp, etc. Multipotent mesenchymal cells obtained from connective Wharton’s Jelly tissue of umbilical cord (WJ-MSCs) currently emerged as particularly interesting type of perinatal EE-MSCs, related for therapeutical applications and cryobanking. These cells are easily assessable for isolation, possess fetal karyotype, and hold very active growth potential. Due to their unique developmental position WJ-MSCs exhibit specific phenotype which combines some markers expressed by postnatal bone marrowderived MSCs, such as CD73, CD90, and CD105 with some markers typically expressed by ESCs, such as Oct-3/4, Sox2, and Nanog. In terms of plasticity WJ-MSCs demonstrate the potential for differentiation towards mesodermal and ectodermal lineages in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, extraembryonic tissues are normally discarded after birth and the isolation of WJ-MSCs is free of ethical concerns. In this work we aim to review previously obtained experimental results, discuss different aspects concerning plasticity and immunomodulatory characteristics of WJ-MSCs, and evaluate the potential of these cells for biomedical and clinical applications.