Disease Name: Hodgkin Lymphoma
Stem cells are undifferentiated cells with high proliferative capacity. In
mammals, stem cells are broadly divided into two categories: **embryonic
stem cells**, isolated from blastocysts, and **adult stem cells**, found
in various tissues. One type of stem cell is the **Mesenchymal Stem Cell
(MSC)**. These are heterogeneous, fibroblast-like, non-hematopoietic,
multipotent cells with self-renewing ability that express a set of surface
antigens and can differentiate into various cell lineages (adipocytes,
chondrocytes, and osteocytes) in laboratory conditions. Mesenchymal stem
cells are extracted from various sources, one of which is bone marrow.
Mesenchymal stem cells extracted from bone marrow have been extensively
characterized, historically accepted as the gold standard for MSCs. In
humans, MSCs are typically isolated from bone marrow samples derived from
the iliac crest of the pelvis or from the tibia and femur. Disadvantages
of bone marrow as a source of mesenchymal stem cells, compared to
umbilical cord, include: the invasive nature of the sampling method, pain,
high viral contamination rates, significant reduction in cell number and
their proliferation and differentiation capacity with advancing age, and
less immunosuppressive potential when co-cultured with activated
T-cells.
Unlike umbilical cord, bone marrow mesenchymal cell sources are not
allogeneic (this characteristic in umbilical cord provides an unlimited
source of allogeneic cells for tissue banking, whose allogeneic cell
products can be used for therapeutic applications in the future). They
require full Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) matching, thus increasing the
incidence of Graft-versus-Host Disease (GVHD). Therefore, it is
significantly important to search for a suitable alternative source
containing cells with greater differentiation and proliferation potential,
improved immunological properties, non-tumor-inducing, with lower risk of
viral contamination, and from young, age-matched, and compatible donors;
hence, umbilical cord tissue has been chosen as a suitable alternative.
The total number of MSCs that can be obtained from umbilical cord tissue
varies and depends on the isolation method used. They express CD73, CD105,
and CD90, while hematopoietic and endothelial cell markers such as CD45,
CD34, CD14 or CD11b, CD79 alpha or CD19, or HLA-DR are not observed. In
other words, they express more than 95% of specific antigenic markers
(CD13, CD44, CD90, CD73, CD105) and less than 2% of hematopoietic or
endothelial markers (CD14, CD11b, CD34, CD45, CD31, HLA-DR). Additionally,
mesenchymal stem cells differentiate into osteoblasts, adipocytes, and
chondroblasts in laboratory conditions.