Searching for Alternative Sources of Postnatal Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Candidate MSC‐Like Cells from Umbilical Cord

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the capability for renewal and differentiation into various lineages of mesenchymal tissues. These features of MSCs attract a lot of attention from investigators in the context of cell-based therapies of several human diseases. Despite the fact that bone marrow represents the main available source of MSCs, the use of bone marrow-derived cells is not always acceptable due to the high degree of viral infection and the significant drop in cell number and proliferative/differentiation capacity with age. Thus, the search for possible alternative MSC sources remains to be validated. Umbilical cord blood is a rich source of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells and does not contain…