Nitric oxide: emerging concepts about its use in cell-based therapies

Abstract

Regenerative medicine is an emerging clinical discipline in which cell-based therapies are used to restore the functions of damaged or defective tissues and organs. Along with the well-established use of cells derived from bone marrow or pancreatic islets, novel approaches of cell therapy have recently emerged that appear particularly promising; that is, those using cell-based vaccines and stem cells. This review focuses on the recent developments of these experimental therapeutic approaches and their drawbacks, with specific focus on dendritic cell vaccines in tumours and mesoangioblasts in muscular dystrophies. The authors discuss how the unique properties of a gaseous messenger, NO, may be exploited to overcome some of the drawbacks of these cell-based approaches in combined therapies based on NO-releasing drugs and cell delivery.

Keywords::

• cell-based vaccines
• cGMP
• dendritic cells
• lymphocytes
• mesoangioblasts
• muscular dystrophy
• NO-releasing drugs
• sphingolipids
• stem cells

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from Telethon (EC), the Italian Association for Cancer Research (EC and AAM), the Italian Ministry of University and Research PRIN 2005 (SB) and the Association Francaise des Myopathies (EC).

All of the authors contributed to this work equally.

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