Concise Review: Wharton's Jelly-derived Cells are a Primitive Stromal Cell Population

¹ Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: weiss{at}vet.ksu.edu.

Correspondence may also be addressed to Deryl L. Troyer at troyer@vet.ksu.edu

	Abstract

Here, the literature was reviewed to evaluate whether a population of mesenchymal stromal cells derived from Wharton's jelly (Wharton's jelly cells, WJCs) are a primitive stromal population. A clear case can be made for WJCs as a stromal population since they display the characteristics of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) as defined by the ISCT, e.g., they grow as adherent cells with mesenchymal morphology, they are self-renewing, they express cell surface markers displayed by MSCs, and they may be differentiated into bone, cartilage, adipose, muscle, and neural cells. Like other stromal cells, WJCs support the expansion of other stem cells such as hematopoietic stem cells, are well-tolerated by the immune system, and they have the ability to ‘home' to tumors. In contrast to bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells, WJCs have greater expansion capability, faster growth in vitro, and may synthesize different cytokines. WJC are therapeutic in several different pre-clinical animal models of human disease such as neurodegenerative disease, cancer, heart disease, etc. The pre-clinical work suggests that the WJCs are therapeutic via trophic rescue and immune modulation. In summary, WJCs meet the definition of mesenchymal stromal cells. Since WJCs expand faster and to a greater extent than adult-derived MSCs, these findings suggest that WJCs are a primitive stromal cell population with therapeutic potential. Further work is needed to determine whether WJCs engraft long-term and display self-renewal and multipotency in vivo, and as such demonstrate whether Wharton's jelly cells are a true stem cell population.