The Mesenchymal Stem Cell Group is one of the UK’s leading research teams investigating the biology of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in vivo. The Leeds group were the worlds first to purify MSCs from the bone marrow using a combination of magnetic beads and multiparameter cell sorting (1) and to discover MSCs in joint synovial fluid (2). The group’s aim is to utilize the knowledge on the in vivo biology of MSCs in different tissues in order to develop novel approaches for the treatment of arthritic and bone diseases, including in situ tissue engineering. More recently we have shown that synovial fluid MSCs are present in normal joints and are amplified in early osteoarthritis (3). In rheumatoid arthritis, on the other hand, both numbers and functionalities of joint MSCs are inhibited in direct relation with local inflammation (4). We have also developed a novel methodology for large scale purification of autologous bone marrow MSCs cells for therapeutic bone and cartilage regeneration (Patent WO2057/083093A1).
Our international Collaborators include Prof Frank Barry, Ireland, Profs Frank Luyten and Rik Lories, Belgium, Prof Ranieri Cancedda, Italy, Dr Tomas Soukup, Czech Rebublic, and Dr Danny Kelly, Ireland. We also collaborate nationally with Prof Cosimo De Bari, Aberdeen, Drs Andy Scutt and Aileen Crawford, Sheffield, and with Prof E Ingham, Drs Yang, Ponchel and Raif, in Leeds. Our key clinical collaborators include Profs Sally Kinsey and Peter Giannoudis at Leeds NHS Trust and Mr Tony Chapman at Calderdale Hospital, Halifax. We are working with industrial collaborators including Smtih&Nephew, UK, Athersys, USA, Miltenyi Biotec, Germany, and Tigenix, Belgium. Our current funding includes European Commission FP7, Yorkshire Forward, White Rose Health Innovation Partnership and the arc.
1. Jones EA, Kinsey SE, English A, Jones RA, Straszynski L, Meredith DM, Markham AF, Jack A, Emery P, McGonagle D. Isolation and characterization of bone marrow multipotential mesenchymal progenitor cells. Arthritis Rheum. 2002;46(12):3349-60.
2. Jones EA, English A, Henshaw K, Kinsey SE, Markham AF, Emery P, McGonagle D. Enumeration and phenotypic characterization of synovial fluid multipotential mesenchymal progenitor cells in inflammatory and degenerative arthritis. Arthritis Rheum. 2004;50(3):817-27.
3. Jones EA, Crawford A, English A, Henshaw K , Mundy J, Corscadden D, Chapman T, Emery P, Hatton P, and McGonagle D. Synovial fluid mesenchymal stem cells in health and early osteoarthritis: Detection and functional evaluation at the single-cell level. Arthritis Rheum 2008, Arthritis Rheum. 2008;58(6):1731-40.
4. E Jones, SM Churchman, A English, CH Burgoyne, SL Field, R Reece, S Kinsey, P Emery, D McGonagle and F Ponchel. Mesenchymal stem cells in rheumatoid synovium: Enumeration and functional assessment in relation to synovial inflammation level. Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, epub April 2009.