Human gingiva plays an important role in the maintenance of oral health and shows unique fetal-like scarless healing process after wounding. Here we isolate and characterize mesenchymal stem cells from human normal and hyperplastic gingival tissues (N-GMSC and H-GMSC, respectively). Immunocytochemical staining indicated that gingival lamina propria contained Stro-1 and SSEA-4 positive cells, implying existence of putative gingival MSC. Under attachment-based isolating and culturing condition, gingival MSC displayed highly clonogenic and long-term proliferative capability. By using single colony isolation and expansion approaches, we found both N-GMSC and H-GMSC possessed self-renewal and multipotent differentiation properties. N-GMSC and H-GMSC showed distinct immunoregulatory functions in a murine skin allograft setting via up-regulation of putative systemic regulatory T cells (Tregs). N-GMSC and H-GMSC were capable of regenerating collagenous tissue following in vivo transplantation, in which H-GMSC exhibited more robust regenerative capability. These findings suggest that gingival tissue contains tissue-specific mesenchymal stem cell population and is an ideal resource for immunoregulatory therapy due to its substantial availability and accessibility. In addition, gingival MSC over-activation may contribute to gingival hyperplastic phenotype.
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