The Use of SHED in Cellular Therapy and Disease Modeling

Abstract

During the last decade, stem cells emerged as a powerful instrument for regenerative medicine. Stem cells have the essential ability to renewal and differentiate into other cell lineages. Besides the polemic about the use of embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells represent a valid alternative avoiding ethical concerns. Different from others adult stem cells, which involved invasive procedures to be obtained, dental pulp represent a useful source of stem cells, with easy accesses. Here we focused on stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth and their main characteristics, uses in regenerative medicine, immunomodulatory proprieties and as a cell source for modeling disease.