Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • COMMENT

Clear up this stem-cell mess

Confusion about mesenchymal stem cells is making it easier for people to sell unproven treatments, warn Douglas Sipp, Pamela G. Robey and Leigh Turner.
  1. Douglas Sipp

    1. Douglas Sipp is a researcher at RIKEN and project professor at Keio University School of Medicine and Global Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Pamela G. Robey

    1. Pamela G. Robey is a senior investigator at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  3. Leigh Turner

    1. Leigh Turner is associate professor at the Centre for Bioethics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Various populations of cells in the adult human body have been the subject of controversy since the early 2000s. Contradictory findings about these haphazardly termed ‘mesenchymal stem cells’, including their origins, developmental potential, biological functions and possible therapeutic uses, have prompted biologists, clinicians and scientific societies to recommend that the term be revised or abandoned. Last year, even the author of the paper that first used the term mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) called for a name change1.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 561, 455-457 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06756-9

References

  1. Caplan, A. I. Stem Cells Transl. Med. 6, 1445–1451 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Sacchetti, B. et al. Stem Cell Rep. 6, 897–913 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Caulfield, T., Sipp, D., Murry, C. E., Daley, G. Q. & Kimmelman, J. Science 352, 776–777 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Caplan, A. I. J. Orthop. Res. 9, 641–650 (1991).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Owen, M. & Friedenstein, A. J. Ciba Found. Symp. 136, 42–60 (1988).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Dominici, M. et al. Cytotherapy 8, 315–317 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Mendicino, M., Bailey, A. M., Wonnacott, K., Puri, R. K. & Bauer, S. R. Cell Stem Cell 14, 141–145 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Turner, L. & Knoepfler, P. Cell Stem Cell 19, 154–157 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Sipp, D. et al. Sci. Transl. Med. 9, eaag0426 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Bianco, P., Robey, P. G. & Simmons, P. J. Cell Stem Cell 2, 313–319 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Nowbar, A. N. et al. Br. Med. J. 348, g2688 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Competing Interests

L.T. has submitted a pro bono opinion in a lawsuit against a clinic that uses the mesenchymal stem cells discussed in this article.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links