Stem cells and nanomaterials

Development and application of nanomaterials, nanotechnology and nanomedicine for treating hematological malignancies

Hematologic malignancies (HMs) pose a serious threat to patients' health and life, and the five-year overall survival of HMs remains low. The lack of understanding of the pathogenesis and the complex clinical symptoms brings immense challenges to the diagnosis and treatment of HMs. Traditional therapeutic strategies for HMs include radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Although immunotherapy and cell therapy have made considerable progress in the last decade, nearly half of patients still relapse or suffer from drug resistance. Recently, studies have emerged that nanomaterials, nanotechnology and nanomedicine show great promise in cancer therapy by enhancing drug targeting, reducing toxicity and side effects and boosting the immune response to promote durable immunological memory. In this review, we summarized the strategies of recently developed nanomaterials, nanotechnology and nanomedicines against HMs and then proposed emerging strategies for the future designment of nanomedicines to treat HMs based on urgent clinical needs and technological progress.

Sulfonated glycosaminoglycan bioinspired carbon dots for effective cellular labelling and promotion of the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells

Although carbon dots (CDs) have been synthesized and applied in a variety of biological fields, such as disease diagnosis and gene/drug delivery, the exploration of facile bioinspired synthesis and applications of CDs is still of great significance. Particularly, recent increasing research has clearly confirmed that nanomaterials can affect a series of physiological behaviors and functions of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) (e.g., differentiation and pluripotency). Therefore, it is very important to develop multifunctional nanomaterials to simultaneously realize the cellular labelling and regulation of MSC behaviors in practical applications. Herein, sulfonated glycosaminoglycan-bioinspired CDs as bi-functional nanomaterials were ingeniously designed for cellular imaging and promoting the differentiation of rat bone MSCs (rBMSCs) in different culture media, which simultaneously met the two fundamental requirements in the field of MSC-based treatments (e.g., precisely directing the differentiation of MSCs and effective cellular labeling). These bifunctional CDs were successfully prepared via one-pot hydrothermal synthesis by using d-glucosamine hydrochloride (GA·HCl) and sodium p-styrenesulfonate (NaSS) as the reactants. The synthesized CDs with a uniform particle size (around 4 nm) dispersed well in aqueous solutions and exhibited remarkable fluorescence stability under different conditions. Additionally, cell viability and proliferation results demonstrated that the CDs possessed good biocompatibility, having negligible effects on the self-renewal potential of rBMSCs. The as-prepared CDs presented a cytoplasmatic distribution after being ingested by rBMSCs; thus, they are particularly suitable for cellular imaging. More importantly, the addition of CDs to osteogenic and chondrogenic induction media (OIM and CIM), respectively, was capable of effectively promoting the osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation of rBMSCs due to the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) while having no influence on their pluripotency. In brief, this study not only implements a cellular labeling method based on CDs that were synthesized by a biomimicking strategy, but also paves a new way to regulate the differentiation of MSCs by designing multifunctional nanomaterials; this will enable the extensive development of facile synthesis methods and new applications of CDs and will also provide some research foundations for MSC-based fields.

Creating Structured Hydrogel Microenvironments for Regulating Stem Cell Differentiation

The development of distinct biomimetic microenvironments for regulating stem cell behavior and bioengineering human tissues and disease models requires a solid understanding of cell-substrate interactions, adhesion, and its role in directing cell behavior, and other physico-chemical cues that drive cell behavior. In the past decade, innovative developments in chemistry, materials science, microfabrication, and associated technologies have given us the ability to manipulate the stem cell microenvironment with greater precision and, further, to monitor effector impacts on stem cells, both spatially and temporally. The influence of biomaterials and the 3D microenvironment's physical and biochemical properties on mesenchymal stem cell proliferation, differentiation, and matrix production are the focus of this review chapter. Mechanisms and materials, principally hydrogel and hydrogel composites for bone and cartilage repair that create "cell-supportive" and "instructive" biomaterials, are emphasized. We begin by providing an overview of stem cells, their unique properties, and their challenges in regenerative medicine. An overview of current fabrication strategies for creating instructive substrates is then reviewed with a focused discussion of selected fabrication methods with an emphasis on bioprinting as a critical tool in creating novel stem cell-based biomaterials. We conclude with a critical assessment of the current state of the field and offer our view on the promises and potential pitfalls of the approaches discussed.

Novel approaches using mesenchymal stem cells for curing peripheral nerve injuries

Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) is a common life-changing disability of peripheral nervous system with significant socioeconomic consequences. Conventional therapeutic approaches for PNI have several drawbacks such as need to autologous nerve scarifying, surplus surgery, and difficult accessibility to donor nerve; therefore, other therapeutic strategies such as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) therapy are getting more interesting. MSCs have been proved to be safe and efficient in numerous degenerative diseases of central and peripheral nervous systems. In this paper, we review novel biotechnological advancements in treating PNI using MSCs.

A peroxiredoxin-based proteinaceous scaffold for the growth and differentiation of neuronal cells and tumour stem cells in the absence of prodifferentiation agents

The use of nanoscale materials in the design of scaffolds for CNS tissue is increasing, due to their ability to promote cell adhesion, to mimic an extracellular matrix microenvironment and to interact with neuronal membranes. In this framework, one of the major challenges when using undifferentiated neural cells is how to control the differentiation process. Here we report the characterization of a scaffold based on the self-assembled nanotubes of a mutant of the protein peroxiredoxin (from Schistosoma mansoni or Bos taurus), which allows the growth and differentiation of a model neuronal cell line (SHSY5Y). The results obtained demonstrate that SHSY5Y cells grow without any sign of toxicity and develop a neuronal phenotype, as shown by the expression of neuronal differentiation markers, without the use of any differentiation supplement, even in the presence of serum. The prodifferentiation effect is demonstrated to be dependent on the formation of the protein nanotube, since a wild-type (WT) form of the peroxiredoxin from Schistosoma mansoni does not induce any differentiation. The protein scaffold was also able to induce the spread of glioblastoma cancer stem cells growing in neurospheres and allowing the acquisition of a neuron-like morphology, as well as of immature rat cortical neurons. This protein used here as coating agent may be suggested for the development of scaffolds for tissue regeneration or anti-tumour devices. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.