Objective: To summarize the research progress of biological characteristics and advantages of Wharton's jelly-mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs).
Methods: The related literature on the biological characteristics of WJ-MSCs, umbilical cord blood MSCs (UBMSCs) and bone marrow MSCs (BMSCs) was extensively reviewed and analyzed.
Results: A large number of MSCs which are able to self-replicate, self-renew and have high proliferation and multipotent differentiation can be isolated from the Wharton's jelly of umbilical cord. WJ-MSCs have many advantages in isolation time, isolation efficiency, expansion time, passage capacity, expansion capacity when compared with UBMSCs and BMSCs.
Conclusion: WJ-MSCs have numerous advantages of convenient and abundant sources, relatively pure, non-ethical issues, and so on, which can be used for cell transplant therapy, gene therapy, and the ideal seed cells of building tissue engineered organ, so they provide new ideas for tissue regeneration repair and reconstruction.