Here, the literature was reviewed to evaluate whether a population of mesenchymal stromal cells derived from Wharton's jelly cells (WJCs) is a primitive stromal population. A clear case can be made for WJCs as a stromal population since they display the characteristics of MSCs as defined by the International Society for Cellular Therapy; for example, they grow as adherent cells with mesenchymal morphology, they are self-renewing, they express cell surface markers displayed by MSCs, and they may be differentiated into bone, cartilage, adipose, muscle, and neural cells. Like other stromal cells, WJCs support the expansion of other stem cells, such as hematopoietic stem cells, are well-tolerated by the immune system, and they have the ability to home to tumors. In contrast to bone marrow MSCs, WJCs have greater expansion capability, faster growth in vitro, and may synthesize different cytokines. WJCs are therapeutic in several different pre-clinical animal models of human disease such as neurodegenerative disease, cancer, heart disease, etc. The preclinical work suggests that the WJCs are therapeutic via trophic rescue and immune modulation. In summary, WJCs meet the definition of MSCs. Since WJCs expand faster and to a greater extent than adult-derived MSCs, these findings suggest that WJCs are a primitive stromal cell population with therapeutic potential. Further work is needed to determine whether WJCs engraft long-term and display self-renewal and multipotency in vivo and, as such, demonstrate whether Wharton's jelly cells are a true stem cell population.

https://stemcellsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1634/stemcells.2007-0439

Concise Review: Wharton's Jelly-Derived Cells Are a Primitive Stromal Cell Population

The success of therapeutic vascularization and tissue engineering will rely on our ability to create vascular networks using human cells that can be obtained readily, can be expanded safely ex vivo, and can produce robust vasculogenic activity in vivo. Here we describe the formation of functional microvascular beds in immunodeficient mice by coimplantation of human endothelial and mesenchymal progenitor cells isolated from blood and bone marrow. Evaluation of implants after 1 week revealed an extensive network of human blood vessels containing erythrocytes, indicating the rapid formation of functional anastomoses within the host vasculature. The implanted endothelial progenitor cells were restricted to the luminal aspect of the vessels; mesenchymal progenitor cells were adjacent to lumens, confirming their role as perivascular cells. Importantly, the engineered vascular networks remained patent at 4 weeks in vivo. This rapid formation of long-lasting microvascular networks by postnatal progenitor cells obtained from noninvasive sources constitutes an important step forward in the development of clinical strategies for tissue vascularization.

Engineering Robust and Functional Vascular Networks In Vivo With Human Adult and Cord Blood–Derived Progenitor Cells

Human umbilical cord (UC) is a promising source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Apart from their prominent advantages, such as a painless collection procedure and faster self-renewal, UC-MSCs have shown the ability to differentiate into three germ layers, to accumulate in damaged tissue or inflamed regions, to promote tissue repair, and to modulate immune response. There are diverse protocols and culture methods for the isolation of MSCs from the various compartments of UC, such as Wharton’s jelly, vein, arteries, UC lining and subamnion and perivascular regions. In this review, we give a brief introduction to various compartments of UC as a source of MSCs and emphasize the potential clinical utility of UC-MSCs for regenerative medicine and immunotherapy.

Umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells: Their advantages and potential clinical utility

Background
Three transcription factors that are expressed at high levels in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are Nanog, Oct-4 and Sox-2. These transcription factors regulate the expression of other genes during development and are found at high levels in the pluripotent cells of the inner cell mass. The downregulation of these three transcription factors correlates with the loss of pluripotency and self-renewal, and the beginning of subsequent differentiation steps. The roles of Nanog, Oct-4 and Sox-2 have not been fully elucidated. They are important in embryonic development and maintenance of pluripotency in ESCs. We studied the expression of these transcription factors in porcine umbilical cord (PUC) matrix cells.

/pdf/expression-of-early-transcription-factors-oct-4-sox-2-and-4rvx50h38o.pdf

Expression of early transcription factors Oct-4, Sox-2 and Nanog by porcine umbilical cord (PUC) matrix cells

Background: Mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPCs) have been isolated from a variety of connective tissues, and are commonly called ‘‘mesenchymal stem cells’’ (MSCs). A stem cell is defined as having robust clonal self-renewal and multilineage differentiation potential. Accordingly, the term ‘‘MSC’’ has been criticised, as there is little data demonstrating self-renewal of definitive single-cell-derived (SCD) clonal populations from a mesenchymal cell source. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we show that a tractable MPC population, human umbilical cord perivascular cells (HUCPVCs), was capable of multilineage differentiation in vitro and, more importantly, contributed to rapid connective tissue healing in vivo by producing bone, cartilage and fibrous stroma. Furthermore, HUCPVCs exhibit a high clonogenic frequency, allowing us to isolate definitive SCD parent and daughter clones from mixed gender suspensions as determined by Y-chromosome fluorescent in situ hybridization. Conclusions/Significance: Analysis of the multilineage differentiation capacity of SCD parent clones and daughter clones enabled us to formulate a new hierarchical schema for MSC self-renewal and differentiation in which a self-renewing multipotent MSC gives rise to more restricted self-renewing progenitors that gradually lose differentiation potential until a state of complete restriction to the fibroblast is reached.

/pdf/human-mesenchymal-stem-cells-self-renew-and-differentiate-43l70sdefn.pdf

Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Self-Renew and Differentiate According to a Deterministic Hierarchy

Mesenchymal progenitor or stem cells (MPCs) isolated from fetal blood, liver, and bone marrow are a population of multipotential cells that can proliferate and differentiate into multiple mesodermal tissues including bone, cartilage, muscle, ligament, tendon, fat, and stroma. The objective of this study was to isolate and characterize MPCs in the human umbilical cord. The suspensions of endothelial and subendothelial cells in cord vein were collected and cultured in M199 supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). Of 50 umbilical cord samples, 3 had numerous fibroblastoid cells morphologically distinguishable from endothelial cells. Fibroblastic cells displayed lack of expression of vWF, Flk-1, and PECAM-1, indicating the endothelial cell-specific marker. To investigate the differentiation potentials, the cells were cultured in adipogenic or osteogenic medium for 2 weeks. Fibroblast-like cells treated with adipogenic supplementation showed Oil red O-positive staining and expressed adipsin, FABP4, LPL, and PPARγ2 genes by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In osteogenic differentiation, alkaline phosphatase activity and calcium accumulation were detected. RT-PCR studies determined that Cx43, osteopontin, and Runx2 genes were expressed in the osteogenic cultures. Among three cell lines cultured continuously for passage 10, two had normal karyotypes; however, one retained a karyotype of mos 46,XY[19]/47,XY,+mar[3]. These observations suggest that MPCs are present in human umbilical cord and possess several typical traits of MPCs.

Mesenchymal progenitor cells in the human umbilical cord

New Radio (NR), which is part of Release 15 of Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards, marks the first fifth generation (5G) standards designed to meet the requirements set forth by the International Telecommunication Union for IMT-2020. This article presents an overview of the NR radio interface and the ongoing work in 3GPP to evolve NR toward 5G-Advanced, allowing it to access new spectrum and support a broader range of vertical services while enhancing its performance beyond what is available today.

/pdf/new-radio-nr-and-its-evolution-toward-5g-advanced-1qf4sio064.pdf

New Radio (NR) and its Evolution toward 5G-Advanced

A method for allocating resources in Device-to-Device (D2D) communication in a wireless network is provided. The method includes requesting, by a device, resource allocation from an enhanced Node B (eNB) and causing the device to be allocated, from the eNB, a Resource Block (RB) for transmitting one of D2D discovery and communication data and control information. The RB includes information about a location of the resource-allocated time or frequency.

Apparatus and method for allocating resources in device-to-device communication in wireless network

Disclosed are a method, communication scheme and a system thereof for converging an IoT technology and a 5G communication system for supporting a high data transmission rate beyond that of a 4G system. The method, communication scheme and a system can be applied to intelligent services (for example, services related to a smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car, connected car, health care, digital education, retail business, security, and safety) based on the 5G communication technology and the IoT-related technology. A method for allocating resources for D2D communication by a User Equipment (UE) includes: identifying a movement direction of the UE; selecting a resource pool mapped to the identified movement direction among resource pools allocated according to the movement direction; and performing D2D communication using the selected resource pool.

Method and apparatus for allocating resources for v2x communication

A method for allocating resources for Device-to-Device (D2D) communication in a transmitting terminal is provided. The method includes receiving broadcast resource allocation information for the D2D communication from a Base Station (BS), and measuring a channel quality of a downlink signal received from the BS and, if the measured channel quality is smaller than a predetermined threshold, conducting the D2D communication using the resource allocation information.

Ryu Hyunseok

Papers

Mesenchymal progenitor cells in the human umbilical cord

New Radio (NR) and its Evolution toward 5G-Advanced

Apparatus and method for allocating resources in device-to-device communication in wireless network

Method and apparatus for allocating resources for v2x communication

Method and apparatus for allocating resources for D2D communication