Recommended reads: MSCs, vision, endothelial cells, more

What a year 2020 was, but there was still plenty of great science, which continues now in 2021 including published research like today’s recommended pieces and there’s one thread on MSCs today.

The Niche new look, more features, and a Medical Advisory Board for 2021

Before we get to the recommended reads, note that 2021 will brings some changes to The Niche.

Some of the new developments are already underway like our Bioethics and Medical Advisory Board. We are also going to be doing more fact-checking of stem cell clinic claims and also those made in the media.

Another part of the plan is to place more emphasis on our many unique resource pages. In that regard, since The Niche is not just a blog, we’ll be undergoing a redesign of the site to a more modern theme. Stay tuned.

Recommended articles, including on MSCs

• Role of the Internal Limiting Membrane in Structural Engraftment and Topographic Spacing of Transplanted Human Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Ganglion Cells, Stem Cell Reports.
• Mechanisms of modulation and differentiation in mesenchymal stem/stromal cells, Stem Cells, editorial on research on MSCs by Professor Jan Nolta. Jan highlights encouraging clinical research on MSCs and the role her journal has played in publishing such key work. One of the papers she highlights that also struck me as particularly interesting and relevant to my own interests is included below.
• Epigenetic control of mesenchymal stem cell fate decision via histone methyltransferase Ash1l. Stem Cells.
• Robust differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into endothelial cells via temporal modulation of ETV2 with modified mRNA, Science Advances. This is from mid-year 2020, but worth a read. See image of part of a figure above that includes work producing MSCs.
• Grafted human induced pluripotent stem cells improve the outcome of spinal cord injury: modulation of the lesion microenvironment, Scientific Reports.
• AP-2γ Is Required for Maintenance of Multipotent Mammary Stem Cells, Stem Cell Reports.
• Genome-wide chromatin loops regulate transcription, Share from Science.
• Selective eradication of pluripotent stem cells by inhibiting DHODH activity, Stem Cells. Pluripotent stem cell-based therapies need ways to avoid teratoma risk.
• Direct Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and Cigarette Smoke Increases Infection Severity and Alters the Stem Cell-Derived Airway Repair Response, Cell Stem Cell.

Blog and media

• Elisabeth Bik was busier than ever finding irregularities in 2020 including with the VSEL literature. See more here on The Niche on the VSEL literature problems and also Bik’s overall 2020 in review post.
• Vatican OKs getting Covid-19 vaccines that used cell lines from aborted fetuses, CNN.
• In a more discouraging note on MSCs, we have “In another blow to MSCs developer, Pluristem terminates a failed lead program”, Endpoints. This comes fairly soon after the bad news for Mesoblast recently on the MSCs for COVID front. In the case of Pluristem, Endpoints reports, “Pluristem, the NASA-allied Israeli stem cell biotech, announced Monday that a data monitoring committee determined the Phase III trial for a lead program wouldn’t meet the primary endpoint. The company will abandon the effort, which had focused on preventing amputations in people with critical limb ischemia.”