Original Article Stem Cells 2005;23:594–604 www.StemCells.com Human Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells Can Express Insulin and Key Transcription Factors of the Endocrine Pancreas Developmental Pathway upon Genetic and/or Microenvironmental Manipulation In

Multipotential stem cells can be selected from the bone mar-row by plastic adhesion, expanded, and cultured. They are able to differentiate not only into multiple cell types, including car-tilage, bone, adipose and fibrous tissues, and myelosupportive stroma, but also into mesodermal (endothelium), neuroecto-dermal, or endodermal (hepatocytes) lineages. Our goal was to characterize the multipotential capacities of human mes-enchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and to evaluate their ability to differentiate into insulin-secreting cells in vitro. hMSCs were obtained from healthy donors, selected by plastic adhesion, and phenotyped by fluorescence-activated cell sorter and reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction analysis before and after infection with adenoviruses coding for mouse IPF1, HLXB9, and FOXA2 transcription factors involve