Myocardial Ischemic Subject's Thymus Fat: A Novel Source of Multipotent Stromal Cells

PLoS One. 2015 Dec 10;10(12):e0144401. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0144401. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Objective: Adipose Tissue Stromal Cells (ASCs) have important clinical applications in the regenerative medicine, cell replacement and gene therapies. Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue (SAT) is the most common source of these cells. The adult human thymus degenerates into adipose tissue (TAT). However, it has never been studied before as a source of stem cells.

Material and methods: We performed a comparative characterization of TAT-ASCs and SAT-ASCs from myocardial ischemic subjects (n = 32) according to the age of the subjects.

Results: TAT-ASCs and SAT-ASCs showed similar features regarding their adherence, morphology and in their capacity to form CFU-F. Moreover, they have the capacity to differentiate into osteocyte and adipocyte lineages; and they present a surface marker profile corresponding with stem cells derived from AT; CD73+CD90+CD105+CD14-CD19-CD45-HLA-DR. Interestingly, and in opposition to SAT-ASCs, TAT-ASCs have CD14+CD34+CD133+CD45- cells. Moreover, TAT-ASCs from elderly subjects showed higher adipogenic and osteogenic capacities compared to middle aged subjects, indicating that, rather than impairing; aging seems to increase adipogenic and osteogenic capacities of TAT-ASCs.

Conclusions: This study describes the human TAT as a source of mesenchymal stem cells, which may have an enormous potential for regenerative medicine.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adipogenesis
  • Adipose Tissue / pathology*
  • Aged
  • Cell Differentiation
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Colony-Forming Units Assay
  • Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Gene Expression
  • Humans
  • Immunophenotyping
  • Mesenchymal Stem Cells / metabolism
  • Mesenchymal Stem Cells / pathology*
  • Middle Aged
  • Myocardial Ischemia / pathology*
  • Osteogenesis
  • Regenerative Medicine / methods
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Protein 1 / genetics
  • Subcutaneous Fat / metabolism
  • Subcutaneous Fat / pathology
  • Thymus Gland / pathology*

Substances

  • FABP4 protein, human
  • Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins
  • SREBF1 protein, human
  • Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Protein 1

Grants and funding

This work was supported in part by grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III/FEDER, EU (PI10/01947, PI13/02628), CTS-7895 from the Consejería de Economía e Innovación, Ciencia y Empleo, Junta de Andalucía/FEDER, EU. R. El Bekay is supported by fellowships from the ISCIII/FEDER, EU "Miguel Servet II" (CPII13/00041). AV-R is under a contract Proyectos de I+D+i para jóvenes investigadores from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (SAF2014-60649-JIN) and co-funded by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional-FEDER.