Connecting the Dots: The Promises of Wharton’s Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Tissue Repair and Regeneration

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) constitute a variety of cellular populations which were described first about 35 years ago in the bone marrow (BM) stroma [1]. These years have foreseen an exponential increase of reports pointing out features, stemness, markers, tissue sources and clinical applications of these cells. Cells with MSC features can be isolated from virtually every adult organ in the body, as well from a group of fetus-associated sources (cells derived from the latter tissues are collectively known as perinatal stem cells) [2]. In recent years, the umbilical cord arose as a promising source of mesenchymal stem cells, which can be isolated in relatively high numbers (compared to BM) and should be further cultured and cryopreserved. Wharton’s jelly (WJ) is the main constituent of the umbilical cord. This mature mucous tissue extends from the amniotic epithelium to the perivascular zone of the cord, and contains an abundant extracellular matrix with fibroblast-like or myofibroblast-like cells inside. The high interest for new stem cell sources for the most diverse clinical applications and the amount of data accumulating on WJ-MSC, pushed for the development of this special issue [3].