Cytokines Induce Monkey Neural Stem Cell Differentiation through Notch Signaling

The roles and applications of neural stem cells in spinal cord injury repair

Spinal cord injury (SCI), which has no current cure, places a severe burden on patients. Stem cell-based therapies are considered promising in attempts to repair injured spinal cords; such options include neural stem cells (NSCs). NSCs are multipotent stem cells that differentiate into neuronal and neuroglial lineages. This feature makes NSCs suitable candidates for regenerating injured spinal cords. Many studies have revealed the therapeutic potential of NSCs. In this review, we discuss from an integrated view how NSCs can help SCI repair. We will discuss the sources and therapeutic potential of NSCs, as well as representative pre-clinical studies and clinical trials of NSC-based therapies for SCI repair.

Neural stem cell therapy for brain disease

Brain diseases, including brain tumors, neurodegenerative disorders, cerebrovascular diseases, and traumatic brain injuries, are among the major disorders influencing human health, currently with no effective therapy. Due to the low regeneration capacity of neurons, insufficient secretion of neurotrophic factors, and the aggravation of ischemia and hypoxia after nerve injury, irreversible loss of functional neurons and nerve tissue damage occurs. This damage is difficult to repair and regenerate the central nervous system after injury. Neural stem cells (NSCs) are pluripotent stem cells that only exist in the central nervous system. They have good self-renewal potential and ability to differentiate into neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes and improve the cellular microenvironment. NSC transplantation approaches have been made for various neurodegenerative disorders based on their regenerative potential. This review summarizes and discusses the characteristics of NSCs, and the advantages and effects of NSCs in the treatment of brain diseases and limitations of NSC transplantation that need to be addressed for the treatment of brain diseases in the future.

In vitro characterization of subventricular zone isolated neural stem cells, from adult monkey and rat brain

Neural stem cells (NSCs) are multipotent, self-renewable cells who are capable of differentiating into neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. NSCs reside at the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the adult brain permanently to guarantee a lifelong neurogenesis during neural network plasticity or undesirable injuries. Although the specious inaccessibility of adult NSCs niche hampers their in vivo identification, researchers have been seeking ways to optimize adult NSCs isolation, expansion, and differentiation, in vitro. NSCs were isolated from rhesus monkey SVZ, expanded in vitro and then characterized for NSCs-specific markers expression by immunostaining, real-time PCR, flow cytometry, and cell differentiation assessments. Moreover, cell survival as well as self-renewal capacity were evaluated by TUNEL, Live/Dead and colony assays, respectively. In the next step, to validate SVZ-NSCs identity in other species, a similar protocol was applied to isolate NSCs from adult rat's SVZ as well. Our findings revealed that isolated SVZ-NSCs from both monkey and rat preserve proliferation capacity in at least nine passages as confirmed by Ki67 expression. Additionally, both SVZ-NSCs sources are capable of self-renewal in addition to NESTIN, SOX2, and GFAP expression. The mortality was measured meager with over 95% viability according to TUNEL and Live/Dead assay results. Eventually, the multipotency of SVZ-NSCs appraised authentic after their differentiation into neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. In this study, we proposed a reliable method for SVZ-NSCs in vitro maintenance and identification, which, we believe is a promising cell source for therapeutic approach to recover neurological disorders and injuries condition.

Targeting Liver Cancer Stem Cells: An Alternative Therapeutic Approach for Liver Cancer

The first report of cancer stem cell (CSC) from Bruce et al. has demonstrated the relatively rare population of stem-like cells in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The discovery of leukemic CSCs prompted further identification of CSCs in multiple types of solid tumor. Recently, extensive research has attempted to identity CSCs in multiple types of solid tumors in the brain, colon, head and neck, liver, and lung. Based on these studies, we hypothesize that the initiation and progression of most malignant tumors rely largely on the CSC population. Recent studies indicated that stem cell-related markers or signaling pathways, such as aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), CD133, epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), Wnt/β-catenin signaling, and Notch signaling, contribute to the initiation and progression of various liver cancer types. Importantly, CSCs are markedly resistant to conventional therapeutic approaches and current targeted therapeutics. Therefore, it is believed that selectively targeting specific markers and/or signaling pathways of hepatic CSCs is an effective therapeutic strategy for treating chemotherapy-resistant liver cancer. Here, we provide an overview of the current knowledge on the hepatic CSC hypothesis and discuss the specific surface markers and critical signaling pathways involved in the development and maintenance of hepatic CSC subpopulations.