The majority of cells in so-called "mesenchymal stem cell" population are neither stem cells nor progenitors

The first-passage adherent human bone marrow fibroblast-like cell population corresponds, in terms of phenotype and three-lineage differentiation capacity (assayed in bulk culture), to commonly termed "mesenchymal stem cells". Here we determine the proportion of high proliferative capacity multipotent cells present in this population in order to estimate the proportion of cells that can or cannot be considered as stem and progenitor cells.

The single-cell cultures were established starting from human bone marrow-derived first-passage fibroblast-like cells and the proliferating clones were either transferred to secondary cultures to evaluate their further clonogenicity, or split into three wells to assess differentiation into each of the three different lineages.

The analysis of 197 single-cell cultures from three different bone marrow donors shows that only∼40% of so-called "mesenchymal stem cells" exhibit multipotency and are capable of sustained clonogenicity in secondary cultures.

Even in the first ex vivo passage under favorable conditions the majority (∼60%) of so-called "mesenchymal stem cells" are not multipotent and thus do not represent a stem cell entity.