Human Umbilical Cord Lining Cells as Novel Feeder Layer for Ex Vivo Cultivation of Limbal Epithelial Cells.

Purpose: To determine the effectiveness of human umbilical cord-derived mucin-expressing cord lining epithelial cells (CLEC-muc) as feeder cells in a coculture system for the cultivation of human limbal stem cells.

Methods: Human CLEC-muc were cultured in PTTe-1 medium and treated with mitomycin C to arrest their growth to make the feeder layer. Single-cell suspension of limbal cells was prepared from corneal rim collected from the Singapore Eye Bank.

Ex vivo expansion of conjunctival and limbal epithelial cells using cord blood serum-supplemented culture medium.

Purpose: Conventional cell culture methods use fetal bovine serum (FBS) as a growth supplement. The purpose of this study was to develop a xenobiotic-free culture system using umbilical cord blood serum (CBS) as an alternative growth supplement for the cultivation of human conjunctival and limbal epithelial cells.

Methods: Human conjunctival and limbal epithelial cells were cultivated in varying concentrations of CBS-supplemented medium and compared with FBS-supplemented medium.

Umbilical cord lining stem cells as a novel and promising source for ocular surface regeneration.

The stem cells involved in renewal of the corneal epithelium are located in the basal region of the limbus, a narrow transition zone surrounding the cornea. In many ocular surface disorders loss of these stem cells results in partial or complete vision loss. Conventional corneal transplant in these patients is associated with dismal results.

Characterization of a novel umbilical cord lining cell with CD227 positivity and unique pattern of P63 expression and function.

Umbilical cord tissue is gaining attention as a novel source of multipotent stem cells because it is easily obtainable, ethically acceptable and the cells are immunologically naïve. In this study, we have isolated and characterized a new cell type expressing MUCIN1 (CD227) from human umbilical cord lining which we termed MUCIN-expressing Cord Lining Epithelial Cell (CLEC-muc). We found that CLEC-muc is highly proliferative and had significant clonogenic ability.