New Frontiers: Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells Uncover Developmental Roots and Biological Underpinnings of Obesity Susceptibility.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Purpose of review To review evidence supporting human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSC) as an innovative model system advancing obesity precision medicine. Recent findings Obesity prevalence is increasing rapidly and exposures during fetal development can impact individual susceptibility to obesity. UC-MSCs exhibit heterogeneous phenotypes associated with maternal exposures and predictive of child cardiometabolic outcomes. This recent evidence supports UC-MSCs as a precision model serving three purposes: (1) as a mechanistic tool to interrogate biological underpinnings of obesity in human studies, (2) as a sensitive index of early life causes and determinants of obesity, and (3) as a marker and transducer of susceptibility, highlighting populations most at risk for future obesity. Data from UC-MSCs emphasize nutrient sensing and lipid partitioning as phenotypes most relevant to neonatal and early childhood adiposity and implicate a role for these cell-autonomous features of mesodermal tissues in the biological underpinnings of obesity.

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

Browse all related research

Filter the research library by this study's title keywords, author, or publication year.