Effect of Age on Gene Expression Profiles in Rhesus Monkey Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

The objective of this study was to elucidate age-related differences in gene expression profiles of rhesus monkey bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (rhMSC) obtained from fetal, infant, and adult donors relevant to their growth and other properties. Although a high degree of similarity was observed in the rhMSC gene expression profiles when comparing the three age groups, significant differences were found that strongly parallel gene expression profiles of human MSC. The potential functional relevance of differential gene expression was most apparent when comparing fetal and adult rhMSC transcript profiles. Overall, the observed gene expression profiles are consistent with a loss of rhMSC pluripotency and proliferative capacity with advancing donor age. In addition, these data highlight the importance of use of non-human primates as a model system for studying the properties of human stem cells. Keywords: age of donor A total of eleven bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell cultures were established from rhesus monkeys of diverse ages (ranging from gestation day 120 to 8 year old adults). Total RNA was harvested from these cultures and gene expression analyses were conducted using oligonucleotide microarrays. The expression profiles of a subset of genes was confirmed by qRT-PCR analysis. A detailed manuscript that details the results of our studies is currently under review.