Elsevier

Medical Hypotheses

Volume 84, Issue 5, May 2015, Pages 516-517
Medical Hypotheses

Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells. A promising epithelial-like cell source

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2015.02.020Get rights and content

Abstract

Several models of tissue-engineered human skin based on three-dimensional (3D) co-culture techniques have been proposed to the date. However, normal skin biopsies are not always available, especially in patients with a high percentage of skin affected by deep burning, and the generation of large amounts of cultured keratinocytes may take very long time, with an associated risk for the patients’ survival. For those reasons, the search of alternative cell sources for tissue reconstruction is a clinical need. In this context, Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells (HDPSC) have the potential to differentiate into multiple cell lineages by the appropriate differentiation conditions, but skin epidermis differentiation has not been demonstrated so far. Here, we hypothesize that HDPSC may have pluripotent differentiation capability, and may be able to differentiate into skin epithelial keratinocytes in culture using organotypic 3D models based on the interaction with the subjacent dermal fibroblasts. By using HDPSC, the problems associated to the donor site availability and the proliferation capability of the epithelial cells could be solved. The rapid accessibility to these cells could be translated to a more immediate generation of a bioengineered human skin substitute for the future clinical treatment.

Section snippets

Background

Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells (HDPSC) have inherent differentiation capabilities and relatively high proliferation rate and self-renewal capability as compared with other adult mesenchymal stem cells [1]. Moreover, HDPSC are characterized by the expression of typical markers of undifferentiated cells such as STRO-1, Oct-4, Sox2, CD90, CD105 [2], and this may explain the enormous potential of these cells to differentiate into multiple mesodermal cell lineages, including, among others,

Hypothesis

Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells (HDPSC) have the potential to differentiate into multiple cell lineages by the appropriate differentiation conditions, but skin epidermis differentiation has not been demonstrated so far. We hypothesize that HDPSC may have pluripotent differentiation capability, including the potential to differentiate into skin epithelial keratinocytes in culture. To fully induce the epidermal differentiation of these cells, co-culture of HDPSC with dermal fibroblasts should be

Conclusion

Several pathologies compromise the normal skin, including extense full-thickness burns leading to severe dysfunction and mortality that demand a rapid and major treatment. The therapy of severe burns has substantially improved the outcome of these patients in the last decade. However, the lack of healthy skin donor sites and the delayed time that is necessary to obtain large keratinocytes cultures represent a challenge when rapid skin coverage is needed [16]. The availability of a novel

Conflict of interest

None declared.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the University of Granada CEIBiotic Grant CEI2014-MPBS14 and the Spanish Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica (I+D+I) from the National Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Instituto de Salud Carlos III), Grant FIS PI11-1582 (co-financed by FEDER funds, European Union).

References (16)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (8)

  • Medical information security in the era of artificial intelligence

    2018, Medical Hypotheses
    Citation Excerpt :

    However, whether facial recognition is as safe as we believe it is remains unknown. Facial three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction at various levels of precision can be accomplished via several methods, such as traditional computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT, used in dental scanning), and medical 3D scanner [3–5]. We are interested in learning whether reconstructing faces using these techniques can be 3D printed and used to crack facial recognition systems.

  • Dental tissues originated stem cells for tissue regeneration

    2021, Regenerative Approaches in Dentistry: An Evidence-Based Perspective
View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text