Applications of Stem Cells in Cancer Therapy: A Literature Based Studies

Stem cells, are extraordinary kind of cells having unique ability of self-renewal, lineage differentiation and regeneration of damaged organ or parts of body. Stem cells experience asymmetric cell divisions, bringing forth two cells from each cell, one cell is alike to SCs in stemnessess whereas, other is differentiated into various lineage. These cells have been known for decades for their highest regenerative potential but their clinical applications remain delayed due to several unknown mechanisms of their actions. With the discovery of Cancer Stem Cells, it was described that understanding the stem cell biology is important for a proper way of cancer cure. Stem cells are successfully being transplanted in several clinical trials to treat the retinal disease, visual disorders including retinitis pigmentosa, Stargardt's disease, wound healing, skin regeneration and age related macular degeneration. Their role in cancer progression is the hot debate of research by cell biologists as understanding their role will help to remove the hurdles in cancer therapy.

Role of Organ Specific Cancer Stem Cells in Organ Specific Cancer Progression

Since the cancer stem cells (CSC) have been identified in 1997 by Bonnet and Dick, more than 100,000 papers have been published on the CSC. Huge research on cancer stem cells helped the scientists to rethink about the cancer therapeutics as classic way of chemotherapy is ineffective because chemotherapy failed to kill these cells, the only reason of cancer relapse. The cancer theory of stem cells is one of the most trending theory in stem cells and cancer biology focusing on the understanding of biology of cancer cells for an enhanced and improved therapeutic approaches should be applied to cure the cancer. This mini-review is a short overview on the role of organ specific cancer stem cells in the organ specific cancer progression.

Anticancer and antioxidant effects of red cabbage on three cancerous cell lines and comparison with a normal cell line (HFF-3)

Red cabbage or scientifically Brassica oleracea is a rich source of anthocyanins exhibiting enormous antioxidant properties creating a perspective of its applications in healthcare sector. The aim of this study was the evaluation of antioxidant properties of red cabbage extract by DPPH radical scavenging assay, and exploration of its anticancer activity on the growth and viability of the desired human cancer cells by in vitro assay to detect cytotoxic activity. The results showed enhanced effects with increasing concentration exhibiting highest value of IC90+ at the concentration of 2500 µg/ml when it is compared with IC50 value of red cabbage extract at a concentration of 750 µg/ml. The polyphenol compounds were found 39.55 mg GAE/100 g of red cabbage extract and red cabbage extract increases the death rate of cancer cells and the cytotoxicity effect was dose dependent. It can be concluded that red cabbage extract should be used at lower concentrations than 6.4 mg/ml in order to prevent the normal human cell damage. Thus, it can be considered as a healthy foodstuff due to numerous phenolic compounds and powerful antioxidant and anticancer activity when it is used in moderate amount.

Overexpression of Chemokine Receptors on Neural Stem Cells Pretreated with Valproic acid: Towards Improved Homing

Neural stem cells (NSCs) have considerable capacity for self-renewing and also ability for generating neurons in the mammalian brain. However, one of the big challenges is the migration and targeted homing of transplanted NSCs into the injured site to treat neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer´s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), brain ischemia (BI) and spinal cord injury (SCI). To improve homing capacity, pretreatment of NSCs with Valproic acid (VPA), which is supposed to cause diverse effects on migration ability of NSCs, is a strategy. More recently, hind brain and olfactory bulbs have been introduced as a good source of NSCs. So, NSCs were isolated from these two sources of postnatal day 1 (PND1) rats. These isolated cells were characterized by expressing neuronal markers such as Nestin and Sox2. The expression of four selected chemokine receptors (CXCR4, CXCR6, CCR1 and CCR7), which are important effectors in homing of stem cells, was investigated. It is concluded that VPA treatment enhances NSCs migration and homing showing its potential to be applied for cell-based therapies.

Critical Issues in Successful Production of Skin Substitutes for Wound Healing

Novel findings on fabrication techniques for bioactive materials, discovering further basic knowledge about wound healing process, and availability of stem cells as alternative candidate for differentiated cells have highly encouraged scientists for developing new bioengineered skin substitutes (BSS) that offer an effective remedy for a specific wound type. However, technical, clinical, legislative and economic reasons hamper wide-spread commercialization and clinical translation of BSS. Among the various types of strategies that target skin repair and regeneration, tissue engineering with stem cells is most promising route. Tissue engineering by cooperation of several disciplines forms a context on which the commercial development of BSS is possible to provide benefits for patients who currently have limited or no cure options. The principles of tissue engineering are to initiate cell cultures in vitro, grow them in monolayer or on porous scaffolds and transplant the composite into a patient with a specific wound indication in vivo. The potential for creating of custom-designed biomaterials and availability of stem cells from either autologous or allogenic sources have helped to produce novel innovative BSS. Currently, wide range of skin substitutes are already being fabricated for clinical use in different wound indications but not yet definitively established. Therefore, many novel engineered constructs might be fabricated in the future. In this review, we describe the progress that has been made to date in the field of skin substitutes and the critical issues that are still hindering successful production and bench to bedside translation of BSS and restricting the availability of these innovative therapeutic constructs. Integrity of the science and technology, interdisciplinary expertise collaborations, and early interaction with regulatory entities such as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA), together with other critical determinants, is vital to the successful commercialization of tissue engineering products into the marketplace/clinic.

CRISPR as a Versatile Technology for Gene Activation and Genome Editing

CRISPR/Cas system, a microbial adaptive immune system, has rapidly transformed the ways researchers can interrogate the genome. CRISPR has many advantages over traditional methods such as Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALEN) and Zinc-finger nucleases (ZFN). Since CRISPR discovery as an adaptive immune system used by bacterial against viruses, it has been repurposed to help in many different genome-related studies such as gene knocking in and out, gene expression upregulation and downregulation. Also CRISPR holds vast therapeutic potential for the management of genetic disorders by straight modifying disease-causing mutations. Although the Cas9 protein has been revealed to attach and cleave DNA at off-target sites, the field of Cas9 specificity is quickly progressing, with marked modifying in guide RNA choice, protein and guide engineering, innovative enzymes, and off-target recognition methods. In current review we mostly focus on CRISPR unique ability in gene activation/ upregulation, which has wide applications in different aspects such as gene studies, stem cell differentiation, and trans-differentiation. Compared to other gene activation methods such as viral gene overexpression, TALEN and ZFN, CRISPR offers many benefits such as easy designing and high precision.

Classification of Wounds: Know before Research and Clinical Practice

Cutaneous wounds are known as the damages and injuries on the skin. Knowing the type of wound is very important before any kind of treatment or therapy being applied. Each type of wound is different from other due to the different structure, biology and pathophysiology, therefore, a kind of treatment for one wound cannot be specified for others. Considering the importance of types of wounds, these wounds are classified into different categories because of their different pathobiology. This manuscript would be a great piece of knowledge for the tissue engineer to develop specific skin substitute for specific wound which might help for the development of appropriate treatment strategies.

Dental Tissue-Derived Stem Cells as a Candidate for Neural Regeneration

In recent years, stem cell therapy tried to improve the life of patients that suffer from neurodegenerative disease, like Alzheimer's disease. Although teeth are non-essential for life, but the dental tissues are an important source of mesenchymal stem cells that are suitable for neural regeneration. The studies showed that dental stem cells (DSCs) have the potential to differentiate into several cell types that among the most important is neural progenitor. In this review article, discusses the types of dental stem cells and then focused on application of dental stem cells on neural regeneration.

Hypoxia-based Stem/Progenitor Cell Therapy: Focus on CXCR4/SDF-1 Axis

Cell therapy is becoming a promising approach to treat degenerative diseases. Homing of the transplanted cells is one of the continuous challenges being faced by the stem cell biologists. Chemokine receptors are one of the highly studied factors which are known to be crucial in controlling the cell/stem cell migration and targeted homing to the damaged tissues. The expression of chemokine receptors is dependent on a number of transcription factors and HIF-1α has been considered the crucial molecules controlling cellular migration and homing. Several studies have revealed that hypoxia conditions stabilize the HIF-1α which upregulate the CXCR4/SDF-1 expression and help in the improvement of tissue regeneration. Here, we review pivotal roles of HIF-1α /CXCR4/SDF-1 pathway in homing of progenitor/Stem cell which were affected by physical hypoxia as well as various hypoxia-mimicking agents.

Ethanol and Stem Cells

Many studies have showed disadvantageous effect of ethanol exposure on stem cells. Ethanol exposure during development leads injury to various types of stem cells including neural stem cells (NSCs), dental pulp stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, embryonic stem cells and etc. Because NSCs play a basic role in the development and maturation of the central nervous system, it is vital to understand the effect of ethanol on NSCs differentiation. Additionally, alcohol misusage appears lead to periodontal disease, tooth decay and mouth wounds that are potentially precancerous. Individuals who abuse alcohol are at high risk of having seriously destroyed teeth, gums and compromised oral health in general. Some of these adverse situations maybe are because of ethanol effects on stem cells. Therefore, here, ethanol effects on the various types of stem cells were reviewed.