Human retinal pigment epithelial cells.

'Human retinal pigment epithelial cells' is the first set of guidelines on human retinal pigment epithelial cells in China, jointly drafted and agreed upon by experts from the Chinese Society for Stem Cell Research. This standard specifies technical requirements, test methods, inspection rules, instructions for usage, labelling requirements, packaging requirements, storage requirements and transportation requirements and waste disposal requirements for human retinal pigment epithelial cells, which is applicable to quality control during the process of manufacturing and testing of human retinal pigment epithelial cells. It was originally released by the Chinese Society for Cell Biology on 9 January 2021. We hope that publication of these guidelines will promote institutional establishment, acceptance and execution of proper protocols and accelerate the international standardization of human retinal pigment epithelial cells for applications.

Requirements for human haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells.

'Requirements for human haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells' is the first set of guidelines on human haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells in China, jointly drafted and agreed upon by experts from the Chinese Society for Stem Cell Research. This standard specifies the technical requirements, inspection methods, inspection rules, instructions for usage, labelling requirements, packaging requirements, storage requirements and transportation requirements for human haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, which is applicable to the quality control for human haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. We hope that publication of these guidelines will promote institutional establishment, acceptance and execution of proper protocols, and accelerate the international standardization of human haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells for applications.

Human mesenchymal stem cells.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have attracted great interest for cell therapy and tissue regeneration due to their self-renewal capacity, multipotency and potent immunomodulatory effects on immune cells. However, heterogeneity of MSCs has become a prominent obstacle to limit their translation into practice, as cells from different tissue sources or each individual have great differences in their transcriptomic signatures, differentiation potential and biological functions. Therefore, there is an urgent need for consensus standard for the quality control and technical specifications of MSCs. 'Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells' is the latest set of guidelines on hMSC in China, jointly drafted and agreed upon by experts from the Chinese Society for Stem Cell Research. This standard specifies the technical requirements, test methods, test regulations, instructions for use, labelling requirements, packaging requirements, storage requirements, transportation requirements and waste disposal requirements for hMSC, which is applicable to the quality control for hMSC. It was originally released by the China Society for Cell Biology on 9 January 2021. We hope that publication of these guidelines will facilitate institutional establishment, acceptance and execution of proper protocols, and accelerate the international standardization of hMSC for clinical development and therapeutic applications.

Stem cell 'therapy' advertisements in China: Infodemic, regulations and recommendations.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the pandemic itself, a phenomenon called an 'infodemic'-defined by the World Health Organization as the spread of misleading information on the pandemic-has also gained attention. In the field of stem cell research, researchers and regulators have been fighting against false and misleading information, particularly advertisements for unproven and unauthorized stem cell-based interventions for decades. However, how existing legal and regulatory measures, which vary by country, can be employed to combat such false information is unclear. In this article, we examine the situation in China, where the spread of unauthorized stem cell 'therapies' has drawn patients from not only within China but also from abroad. First, we assess how and to what extent online advertisements promote unproven and unauthorized stem cell-based interventions directly to patients and prospective health consumers in China. Next, we survey the landscape for existing regulatory and administrative measures that may be used to combat false and misleading advertisements in this area. Finally, based on our analysis, we provide three main recommendations that may improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the regulatory measures in curtailing illegitimate advertising of unproven and unauthorized stem cell-based interventions in China. In conclusion, we also call for international collaboration among researchers and regulators in studying and strengthening regulations in this critical area that has so far been neglected in scholarly and policy discussions.

Synergistic inhibition of characteristics of liver cancer stem-like cells with a combination of sorafenib and 8-bromo-7-methoxychrysin in SMMC-7721 cell line.

Sorafenib, a multi-kinase inhibitor, has shown its promising antitumor effect in a series of clinical trials, and has been approved as the current standard treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). 8-Bromo­7-methoxychrysin (BrMC) is a novel chrysin synthetic analogue that has been reported to inhibit the growth of various tumor cells and possess properties for targeting liver cancer stem cells (LCSCs) . The present study investigated the synergistic targeting effects on the properties of liver cancer stem-like cells (LCSLCs) by a combination of sorafenib and BrMC in SMMC-7721 cell line. We also investigated whether this effect involves regulation of HIF-1α, Twist and NF-κB protein. We found that the sphere-forming cells (SFCs) from the SMMC­7721 cells possessed the properties of LCSLCs. Sorafenib diminished the self-renewal capacity and downregulated the expression of stem cell biomarkers (CD133, CD44 and ALDH1) in a dose-dependent manner, while BrMC cooperated with sorafenib to strengthen this inhibition. Moreover, the combination of sorafenib and BrMC led to a remarkable decrease in the cellular migration and invasion, the downregulation of N-cadherin protein and upregulation of E-cadherin protein, and increase of cell apoptosis in LCSLCs. BrMC has a remarkable antagonistic effect on the upregulation of protein expression and DNA binding activity of NF-κB (p65) induced by sorafenib. In addition, our results indicated that the synergistic inhibition of sorafenib and BrMC on the characteristics of LCSLCs involves the downregulated expression of HIF-1α and EMT regulator Twist1. Collectively, the combination therapy of sorafenib and BrMC could be a new and promising therapeutic approach in the treatment of HCC.

Tubeimoside-1 suppresses breast cancer metastasis through downregulation of CXCR4 chemokine receptor expression.

To examine the effect of TBMS1on breast cancer metastasis, and investigate the potential mechanism by which Tubeimoside- 1 (TBMS1) inhibits the CXCR4 expression in breast cancer cells. The expression of CXCR4 in breast cancer cell lines was determined by immunoblotting and real-time PCR. The effect of TBMS1 on NF-κB binding activity was evaluated by EMSA assay and ChIP analysis. Cell proliferation and invasion were analyzed by MTT assay and transwell invasion assay, respectively. The effect of TBMS1 on breast cancer metastasis was further evaluated in a metastasis model of nude mice. TBMS1 suppressed the expression of CXCR4 through inhibition of NF-κB binding activity. TBMS1 inhibited CXCL12-induced invasion in breast cancer cells, while ectopic expression of CXCR4 abolished the inhibitive activity of TBMS1. TBMS1 suppressed breast cancer metastasis in the metastatic model of nude mice. TBMS1 suppressed the CXCR4-mediated metastasis of breast cancer by inhibiting NF-κB binding activity. [BMB Reports 2016; 49(9): 502-507].