Identification of a Novel High Yielding Source of Multipotent Adult Human Neural Crest-Derived Stem Cells

Due to their extraordinarily broad differentiation potential and persistence during adulthood, adult neural crest-derived stem cells (NCSCs) are highly promising candidates for clinical applications, particularly when facing the challenging treatment of neurodegenerative diseases or complex craniofacial injuries. Successful application of human NCSCs in regenerative medicine and pharmaceutical research mainly relies on the availability of sufficient amounts of tissue for cell isolation procedures. Facing this challenge, we here describe for the first time a novel population of NCSCs within the middle turbinate of the human nasal cavity. From a surgical point of view, high amounts of tissue are routinely and easily removed during nasal biopsies. Investigating the presence of putative stem cells in obtained middle turbinate tissue by immunohistochemistry, we observed Nestin⁺/p75^NTR+/S100⁺/α smooth muscle actin (αSMA)^- cells, which we successfully isolated and cultivated in vitro. Cultivated middle turbinate stem cells (MTSCs) kept their expression of neural crest and stemness markers Nestin, p75 ^NTR and S100 and showed the capability of sphere formation and clonal growth, indicating their stem cell character. Application of directed in vitro differentiation assays resulted in successful differentiation of MTSCs into osteogenic and neuronal cell types. Regarding the high amount of tissue obtained during surgery as well as their broad differentiation capability, MTSCs seem to be a highly promising novel neural crest stem cell population for applications in cell replacement therapy and pharmacological research.