Reprogramming of Oncogene Expression in Gingival Mesenchymal Stem Cells Following Long-Term Culture In Vitro

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a promising resource for stem cell therapy for the treatment of different neurodegenerative disorders. In particular, dental MSCs, given their origin from neural crest and their proneness toward neuronal differentiation, may be more suitable for transplantation. However, if MSCs can undergo spontaneous transformation and give rise to tumor is still debated. Data about transcriptional regulation of oncogenes in MSCs following in vitro expansion are not available. In this work, we compared gene expression levels of oncogenes in gingival-derived MSCs at passage number 10 and 41. We found that the expression of 22 oncogenes was abolished in gingival MSCs at passage number 41 compared to those at passage number 10, and this may indicate a greater safety of high number passage MSCs.