A Xeno-Free Strategy for Derivation of Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells and Wharton’s Jelly Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells: A Feasibility Study toward Personal Cell and Vascular Based Therapy

Coimplantation of endothelial cells (ECs) and mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) into the transplantation site could be a feasible option to achieve a sufficient level of graft-host vascularization. To find a suitable source of tissue that provides a large number of high-quality ECs and MSCs suited for future clinical application, we developed a simplified xeno-free strategy for isolation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and Wharton’s jelly-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (WJ-MSCs) from the same umbilical cord. We also assessed whether the coculture of HUVECs and WJ-MSCs derived from the same umbilical cord (autogenic cell source) or from different umbilical cords (allogenic cell sources) had an impact on in vitro angiogenic capacity. We found that HUVECs grown in 5 ng/ml epidermal growth factor (EGF) supplemented xeno-free condition showed higher proliferation potential compared to other conditions. HUVECs and WJ-MSCs obtained from this technic show an endothelial lineage (CD31 and von Willebrand factor) and MSC (CD73, CD90, and CD105) immunophenotype characteristic with high purity, respectively. It was also found that only the coculture of HUVEC/WJ-MSC, but not HUVEC or WJ-MSC mono-culture, provides a positive effect on vessel-like structure (VLS) formation, in vitro. Further investigations are needed to clarify the pros and cons of using autogenic or allogenic source of EC/MSC in tissue engineering applications. To the best of our knowledge, this study offers a simple, but reliable, xeno-free strategy to establish ECs and MSCs from the same umbilical cord, a new opportunity to facilitate the development of personal cell-based therapy.