Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Jan 26, 2025; 17(1): 98777
Published online Jan 26, 2025. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v17.i1.98777
Immortalization of epidural fat-derived mesenchymal stem cells: In vitro characterization and adipocyte differentiation potential
Seoung-Woo Lee, Young-Ju Lim, Hee-Yeon Kim, Wansoo Kim, Wook-Tae Park, Min-Jung Ma, Junho Lee, Min-Soo Seo, Young In Kim, Sangbum Park, Seong-Kyoon Choi, Gun Woo Lee
Seoung-Woo Lee, Seong-Kyoon Choi, Core Protein Resources Center, Daegu-Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, Daegu 42988, South Korea
Young-Ju Lim, Wook-Tae Park, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Yeungnam University Medical Center, Yeungnam University College of Medicine, Daegu 42415, South Korea
Hee-Yeon Kim, Department of Veterinary Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, South Korea
Wansoo Kim, School of Life Science, BK21 FOUR KNU Creative BioResearch Group, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, South Korea
Min-Jung Ma, Laboratory of Veterinary Tissue Engineering, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, South Korea
Junho Lee, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, South Korea
Min-Soo Seo, Department of Veterinary Tissue Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, South Korea
Young In Kim, Cellexobio., Ltd., Daegu 42415, South Korea
Sangbum Park, Michigan State University, Institute for Quantitative Health Science & Engineering, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States
Gun Woo Lee, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Yeungnam University College of Medicine, Daegu 42415, South Korea
Co-first authors: Seoung-Woo Lee and Young-Ju Lim.
Co-corresponding authors: Seong-Kyoon Choi and Gun Woo Lee.
Author contributions: Lee SW and Lim YJ designed the study, acquired and analyzed the data, drafted the manuscript, and conducted the experiments and investigation; Lee SW, Lim YJ, Kim HY, Lee J, and Kim W performed the proteomics analyses and visualized the data; Lee SW, Lim YJ, Park WT, Ma MJ, Park S, Seo MS, and Kim YI validated and interpreted the data; Lee SW, Lim YJ, Choi SK, and Lee GW designed the research study and approved the final version of the manuscript; Lee GW communicated with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer review, and publication processes; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript. Lee SW and Lim YJ were equal contributors in conducting the experiment, analyzing the data, and writing the manuscript as co-first authors of this manuscript; Choi SK and Lee GW designed the research, revised the manuscript, supervised the project, and approved the final version of the manuscript as co-corresponding authors of this manuscript.
Supported by the Centers of Research Excellence - Regional Leading Research, No. RS-2023-00219725; the National Research Foundation of Korea, No. 2022R1C1C1005410 and No. 00219725; the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea, No. RS-2023-00305198; the DGIST R&D Program of the Ministry of Science and ICT 24-NT-01 to Choi SK, No. 060007; and the NIH to Park S, No. R01AR083086.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Yeungnam University Medical Center.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Data sharing statement: The data generated during current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable requests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Gun Woo Lee, Associate Professor, MD, PhD, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Yeungnam University College of Medicine, No. 170 Hyunchung-ro, Namgu, Daegu 42415, South Korea. gwlee1871@gmail.com
Received: July 5, 2024
Revised: October 12, 2024
Accepted: December 3, 2024
Published online: January 26, 2025
Processing time: 198 Days and 19.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Epidural fat-derived mesenchymal stem cells (EF-MSCs) are potential candidates to treat neurodegenerative diseases. However, the clinical implication of EF-MSCs has encountered many limitations including difficulty in isolating the fat from the epidural region and limited proliferation ability of the SCs. Therefore, precise biomolecular characteristics of the EF-MSC remain unclear. To overcome these problems, we immortalized EF-MSCs through lentiviral transduction, and these stable EF-MSCs were analyzed by phenotypical interpretation and proteomics. In this study, immortalized EF-MSCs demonstrated notably increased lifespan and adipogenic potential. These findings suggest that stable EF-MSCs could be potential tools for developing effective regenerative medicine strategies.