The research of recombinant retrovirus vector carrying hTERT transfection of the MSCs in human cord blood

摘要

Human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UCBMSCs) represent a population of stem cells that are capable of differentiation into multiple lineages and are expected to serve as an excellent alternative to bone marrow-derived human mesenchymal stem cells. However, these cells exhibit senescence-associated growth arrest and phenotypic changes during long-term in vitro culture. To overcome this problem, we attempted to produce a strain of UCBMSCs with a long life span and to investigate whether the strain could maintain phenotypes in vitro. UCBMSCs were infected with retrovirus carrying the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) to prolong their life span. The UCBMSCs newly established with hTERT (hTERT-MSCs) proliferated faster than non-infected and had longer life-span. The characteristics of the hTERT-MSCs remained unchanged during the prolongation of life span. The hTERT-MSCs can serve as an alternative source of mesenchymal stem cells and may provide a unique source for cellular and gene therapy.