Re-education begins at home: an overview of the discovery of in vivo-active small molecule modulators of endogenous stem cells

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease and arthritis cause great suffering and are major socioeconomic burdens. An attractive treatment approach is stem cell transplantation to regenerate damaged or destroyed tissues. However, this can be problematic. For example, donor cells may not functionally integrate into the host tissue. An alternative methodology is to deliver bioactive agents, such as small molecules, directly into the diseased tissue to enhance the regenerative potential of endogenous stem cells.

Areas covered: In this review, the authors discuss the necessity of developing these small molecules to treat degenerative diseases and survey progress in their application as therapeutics. They describe both the successes and caveats of developing small molecules that target endogenous stem cells to induce tissue regeneration. This article is based on literature searches which encompass databases for biomedical research and clinical trials. These small molecules are also categorized per their target disease and mechanism of action.

Expert opinion: The development of small molecules targeting endogenous stem cells is a high-profile research area. Some compounds have made the successful transition to the clinic. Novel approaches, such as modulating the stem cell niche or targeted delivery to disease sites, should increase the likelihood of future successes in this field.

KEYWORDS:

• Arthritis
• degenerative disease
• diabetes
• endogenous stem cells
• heart disease
• muscular dystrophy
• regenerative medicine
• small molecules
• stem cell niche
• tissue repair

Article highlights

• Small molecules have been successfully developed to manipulate endogenous stem cells

• Some of these compounds have made the successful transition to the clinic

• The major applications are degenerative diseases and aging-related disorders

• Greater understanding of the stem cell niche facilitates the identification of novel targets for drug development

• Targeted delivery focuses the therapeutic effect of stem cell-modulating compounds and reduces the probability of non-specific side-effects

This box summarizes key points contained in the article.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Eun-Ryeong Lee for their expertise with figure production.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties. Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the following grants: (1) Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Korean government, MSIP (NRF-2015R1A2A2A11001597, (2) Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the NRF funded by the Korean government, MSIP (NRF-2015M3A9C6030838) and (3) A grant from the 2018 GRI of the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology.