Background: Regenerative therapies based on autologous mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) as well as stem cells in general are still facing an unmet need for non-invasive sampling, availability, and scalability. The only known adult source of autologous MSCs permanently available with no pain, discomfort, or infection risk is the outer root sheath of the hair follicle (ORS).
Methods: This study presents a non-invasively-based method for isolating and expanding MSCs from the ORS (MSCORS) by means of cell migration and expansion in air-liquid culture.
Results: The method yielded 5 million cells of pure MSCORS cultured in 35 days, thereby superseding prior art methods of culturing MSCs from hair follicles. MSCORS features corresponded to the International Society for Cell Therapy characterization panel for MSCs: adherence to plastic, proliferation, colony forming, expression of MSC-markers, and adipo-, osteo-, and chondro-differentiation capacity. Additionally, MSCORS displayed facilitated random-oriented migration and high proliferation, pronounced marker expression, extended endothelial and smooth muscle differentiation capacity, as well as a paracrine immunomodulatory effect on monocytes. MSCORS matched or even exceeded control adipose-derived MSCs in most of the assessed qualities.
Conclusions: MSCORS qualify for a variety of autologous regenerative treatments of chronic disorders and prophylactic cryopreservation for purposes of acute treatments in personalized medicine.
Keywords: adipose tissue; cell therapy; differentiation; hair follicle; mesenchymal stem cells; non-invasive; regenerative medicine.