For the last decade, stem cell therapies have demonstrated enormous potential for solving some of the most tragic illnesses, diseases and tissue defects worldwide. Currently, more than 1300 clinical trials use stem cell therapy to solve a spectrum of cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov, Jan 2014, search term: stem cell therapy; only currently recruiting and completed studies are included in the search). However, the efficacy of stem cell transplantation in patients has not been well established, and recent clinical trials have produced mixed results. We attribute this lack of efficacy in part to an incomplete understanding of the fate of stem cells following transplantation and the lack of control over cell fate, especially cell-homing and therapeutic functions. In the present review, we present two of our recently developed technologies that aim to address the above-mentioned bottlenecks in stem cell therapy specifically in the areas of MSCs (mesenchymal stem cells): (i) aptamer-based cell-surface sensors to study cellular microenvironments, and (ii) mRNA engineering technology to enhance the homing and immunomodulatory efficacy of transplanted stem cells. The first engineering strategy aims to elucidate the basic cellular signalling that occurs in the microenvironment of transplanted stem cells in real time. The second technique involves a simple mRNA transfection that improves the homing and anti-inflammatory capability of MSCs. Although we have specifically applied these engineering techniques to MSCs, these strategies can be incorporated for almost any cell type to determine and control the fate of transplanted stem cells.
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June 2014
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Conference Article|
May 22 2014
Bioengineering tools to elucidate and control the fate of transplanted stem cells
Rukmani Sridharan;
Rukmani Sridharan
*Department of Anatomy, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 123 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
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Jeffrey M. Karp;
Jeffrey M. Karp
1
†Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Center for Regenerative Therapeutics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA 02139, U.S.A.
1Correspondence may be addressed to either of these authors (email[email protected]or[email protected]).
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Weian Zhao
Weian Zhao
1
‡Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center and Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology, University of California, Irvine, 845 Health Sciences Road, Irvine, CA 92697, U.S.A.
1Correspondence may be addressed to either of these authors (email[email protected]or[email protected]).
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
February 06 2014
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© The Authors Journal compilation © 2014 Biochemical Society
2014
Biochem Soc Trans (2014) 42 (3): 679–687.
Article history
Received:
February 06 2014
Citation
Rukmani Sridharan, Jeffrey M. Karp, Weian Zhao; Bioengineering tools to elucidate and control the fate of transplanted stem cells. Biochem Soc Trans 1 June 2014; 42 (3): 679–687. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20130276
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