Epigenetic quality check — how good are your mesenchymal stromal cells?

Epigenomics Commentary by Wolfgang Wagner, Joana Frobe and Roman Goetzke (Helmholtz-Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Aachen, Germany) discussing the need for reliable molecular definition and quality control of MSCs in order for them to reach their clinical potential, and how epigenetic analyses can be utilized to achieve this.

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are being widely used in clinical trials for many different conditions, but reliable molecular definition and quality control of MSCs is lacking. This Epigenomics Commentary by Wolfgang Wagner, Joana Frobe and Roman Goetzkefrom Helmholtz-Institute for Biomedical Engineering (Aachen, Germany) discussed how epigenetic signatures could be suited to better characterize MSCs, looking at topics such as the impact of culture conditions on the epigenetic makeup and the variation in MSCs derived from different tissues.

Wagner W, Frobe J, Goetzke R. Epigenetic quality check — how good are your mesenchymal stromal cells? Epigenomics 8(7), 889—894 (2016).

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