Importance of the stem cell microenvironment forophthalmological cell-based therapy

• Published in: 世界干细胞杂志：英文版（电子版） no. 2; pp. 448 - 460
• Main Author: Peng-Xia Wan Bo-Wen Wang Zhi-Chong Wang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: cell; Cellbasedtherapy; diseases; Microenvironment; Niche; Ocular; Ophthalmology; Stem
• ISSN: 1948-0210; 1948-0210

Cell therapy is a promising treatment for diseasesthat are caused by cell degeneration or death. Thecells for clinical transplantation are usually obtainedby culturing healthy allogeneic or exogenous tissue invitro . However, for diseases of the eye, obtaining theadequate number of cells for clinical transplantationis difficult due to the small size of tissue donors andthe frequent needs of long-term amplification ofcells in vitro , which results in low cell viability aftertransplantation. In addition, the transplanted cells oftendevelop fibrosis or degrade and have very low survival.Embryonic stem cells （ESCs） and induced pluripotentstem cells （iPS） are also promising candidates for celltherapy. Unfortunately, the differentiation of ESCs canbring immune rejection, tumorigenicity and undesireddifferentiated cells, limiting its clinical application.Although iPS cells can avoid the risk of immune rejectioncaused by ES cell differentiation post-transplantation,the low conversion rate, the risk of tumor formationand the potentially unpredictable biological changesthat could occur through genetic manipulation hinderits clinical application. Thus, the desired clinical effectof cell therapy is impaired by these factors. Recentresearch findings recognize that the reason for lowsurvival of the implanted cells not only depends on theseeded cells, but also on the cell microenvironment,which determines the cell survival, proliferation andeven reverse differentiation. When used for cell therapy,the transplanted cells need a specific three-dimensionalstructure to anchor and specific extra cellular matrixcomponents in addition to relevant cytokine signalingto transfer the required information to support theirgrowth. These structures present in the matrix inwhich the stem cells reside are known as the stem cellmicroenvironment. The microenvironment interactionwith the stem cells provides the necessary homeostasisfor cell maintenance and growth. A large number ofstudies suggest that to explore how to reconstructthe stem cell microenvironment and strengthen itscombination with the transplanted cells are key steps tosuccessful cell therapy. In this review, we will describethe interactions of the stem cell microenvironmentwith the stem cells, discuss the importance of the stemcell microenvironment for cell-based therapy in oculardiseases, and introduce the progress of stem cell-based therapy for ocular diseases.