Gestational Diabetes Exposed Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Phenotypic Differences Link to Long-Term Health of Offspring

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from the placenta, fetal membranes, or umbilical cord may be used to study the pathophysiology of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). The phenotype of MSCs may reflect fetal programming in response to the maternal milieu of a GDM pregnancy. Altered fetal programming is linked to high rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the offspring of mothers with GDM. This review discusses recent findings characterizing the phenotype of GDM-exposed MSCs (GDM-MSCs) which enhance our understanding of the mechanisms of fetal programming. It also considers how MSCs may be used as markers of long-term offspring health to test the benefit of putative interventions and highlights the need for further translational studies to clearly link the MSC phenotype to clinical parameters and interventions.