Could cells from menstrual blood be a new source for cell-based therapies?

Zhang, Man-Jing; Liu, Bin; Xia, Wei; Sun, Zhi-Yong; Lu, Kai-Hua

doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2008.10.021

« Previous Next »Medical Hypotheses
Volume 72, Issue 3 , Pages 252-254, March 2009

Could cells from menstrual blood be a new source for cell-based therapies?

Man-Jing Zhang
- Division of Plastic Surgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical College, Kunming, Yunnan 650031, China
- These authors contributed equally to this work.
Bin Liu
- State Military Key Laboratory of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Institute of Plastic Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710032, China
- These authors contributed equally to this work.
Wei Xia
- State Military Key Laboratory of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Institute of Plastic Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710032, China
Zhi-Yong Sun
- Department of Plastic Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China
Kai-Hua Lu
- State Military Key Laboratory of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Institute of Plastic Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710032, China
- Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +86 29 84775574.

Received 5 October 2008; accepted 13 October 2008. published online 22 December 2008.

Summary

Human endometrium is a highly regenerative tissue and contains a low number of cells which have high replicative ability and differentiation efficiency. This has been identified by many scientists. When the fresh growth of tissue and blood vessels is shed during each menstrual cycle, some cells with regenerative capabilities are present. Reports have also indicated that these cells possess the capacity to trans-differentiate into mesodermal, ectodermal and endodermal lineages by using standard commercially available culture reagents and methodologies. Given the ease of extraction and pluripotency of this cell population, we propose it as a novel alternative to current cells sources for cell-based therapies.