Abstract
The 5th Pan Pacific Symposium on Stem Cells and Cancer Research (PPSSC) and the 8th Asia Pacific Symposium on Neural Regeneration (APSNR) were held in Taipei, Taiwan on 2012. Over 500 attendees from 27 countries gathered together for this 3-day meeting.
The main themes for this meeting are the stem cell, regenerative medicine, and cancer research. Among them, we highlight 15 topics for this meeting; 13 review articles and two original papers. These articles can be briefly summarized as follows.
Kramer et al. review the similarities and differences between induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and embryonic stem cells (ESCs) regarding gene expression, methylation, and genomic aberrations. The experimental results of spinal cord injury by cells derived from these two stem cells are also compared in relation to cell survival and differentiation, tumor formation, and functional recovery. The molecular mechanisms of cell therapy in stroke, including how this relates to homing factors, and cell–cell interactions are reviewed by Ding et al. Clinical results using various stem cells are also described. Liu et al. provide an overview of the current applications of neural stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), ESCs, and iPSCs in stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Parkinson's disease and discuss hurdles for future cell therapy including the cell generation safety and efficiency that need to be overcome.
Fan et al. systemically describe the known gene mutations causing Parkinson's disease, such as α-synuclein, LRRK2, ADPD, PINK1, DJ1, ATP13A2, etc. New drug development including gene–cell therapy to inhibit toxic protein expression is a new direction. Fu et al. explore the effect of aberrant alternative splicing in Parkinson's disease. Genes including PARK2, SNCAIP, LRRK2, SNCA, SRRM2, and MAPT are described and possibly can be used as diagnostic biomarker and applied therapy.
Stem cell-based therapies for ischemic heart disease, tendon injury, and liver tissue engineering feature next. Hsiao et al. reviewed the possibility of end-stage heart failure therapy by using various stem cells. Techniques for improving low retention and poor survival of transplantation cells are discussed. Chen et al. describe the pathophysiology of tendon injury and its healing process. Current status of cell therapy for tendon injury by various stem cells such as MSCs, bone marrow stem cells, and ADSCs are reviewed. Biomaterials, chemically synthesized materials, natural component materials, nanomaterials, as well as decellularized liver materials are some of the different mechanisms for liver tissue engineering that Li et al. review. Methods for growing stem cells on these material scaffolds are also studied, and their applications in vivo and vitro are described.
One common source of stem cells is that of adipose tissue. Huang et al. review methods for the isolation, culture, and characterization of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) as well as their possible applications for cosmetics, orthostatics, and cardiology.
The most frequently studied stem cell is probably the MSC, and two reviews looked at their application in treating hematological and hematopoietic disorders. Chou et al. review the current outcome of patient trials using MSCs to promote bone marrow cell grafting and the patients' functional recovery. The molecular mechanisms such as cell–cell interaction, paracrine effects, extracellular matrix proteins, homing effects, and immunomodulatory effects of MSCs are highlighted. Wu et al. extensively summarize the molecular mechanisms of immunomodulation by cografting hematopoietic stem cells and MSCs. The mechanisms are partly related to the interaction of infused cells to the host T-cells and B-cells, the modification of host bone marrow microenvironments for enhancing the survival and proliferation of grafted cells. The methods for preparing MSCs in vitro and the dosage and time schedules for cell grafting in patients are also discussed.
Two reviews feature glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Cho et al. highlight five methods for developing new therapy targeting the GBM stem cells. These include (1) targeting therapy for specific GBM stem cell signal pathway; (2) enhancing radio-sensitization; (3) GBM primed dendritic cell immune therapy; (4) bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) and GBM stem cell differentiating therapy; and (5) specific gene therapy. Finally, the roles of micro-RNAs in regulating the proliferation, stemness, migration, invasion, and tumorgenecity of GBM stem cells are explored by Chu et al. In addition, specific deregulated micro-RNAs of GBM are covered and may potentially become new target drug development.
Two original articles were also planned to be included. However the first by Zhang et al. was published in Volume 21, Number 12. This study tests whether an extract from wolfberry can influence depressed animals, and the results show that it restores the depression behavior through the mechanisms of enhancing synaptic formation in hippocampus. The second research article by Harn et al. is a preliminary study to test the hypothesis of skin rejuvenation by the subcutaneous injection of GCSF primed autologous peripheral blood stem cells. The results suggest that injected stem cells from young pigs may home into the adjacent hair follicles and dermoepidermal junction, enhancing the production of hyaluronic acid, collagenous and elastic fibers of aged pig skin after 2 weeks.