Identification and Characterization of Human Endometrial Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells and Their Potential for Cellular Therapy

Human endometrium is a highly regenerative tissue, undergoing more than 400 cycles of proliferation, differentiation, and shedding during a woman's reproductive life. Adult stem cells, including mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs), are likely responsible for the immense cellular turnover in human endometrium. The unique properties of MSCs, including high proliferative ability, self-renewal, differentiation to mesodermal lineages, secretion of angiogenic factors, and many other growth-promoting factors make them useful candidates for cellular therapy and tissue engineering. In this review, we summarize the identification and characterization of newly discovered MSCs from the human endometrium: their properties, the surface markers used for their prospective isolation, their perivascular location in the endometrium, and their potential application in cellular therapies.