Curr Obes Rep. 2025 Jan 16;14(1):10. doi: 10.1007/s13679-024-00599-4.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To review evidence supporting human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSC) as an innovative model system advancing obesity precision medicine.
RECENT FINDINGS: Obesity prevalence is increasing rapidly and exposures during fetal development can impact individual susceptibility to obesity. UC-MSCs exhibit heterogeneous phenotypes associated with maternal exposures and predictive of child cardiometabolic outcomes. This recent evidence supports UC-MSCs as a precision model serving three purposes: (1) as a mechanistic tool to interrogate biological underpinnings of obesity in human studies, (2) as a sensitive index of early life causes and determinants of obesity, and (3) as a marker and transducer of susceptibility, highlighting populations most at risk for future obesity. Data from UC-MSCs emphasize nutrient sensing and lipid partitioning as phenotypes most relevant to neonatal and early childhood adiposity and implicate a role for these cell-autonomous features of mesodermal tissues in the biological underpinnings of obesity.
PMID:39814984 | DOI:10.1007/s13679-024-00599-4
