Single cell transcriptomic analysis of human mesenchymal stem cells reveals limited heterogeneity

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a population of multipotent cells with a superior ability to promote tissue repair by regulating regeneration and inflammation. Effective application of MSCs in disease treatment relies on the production of relatively homogeneous cell population. However, the cellular heterogeneity and the differentiation trajectories of in vitro expanded MSCs remain largely unclear. We profiled the transcriptomes of 361 single MSCs derived from two umbilical cords (UC-MSCs). These UC-MSCs were harvested at different passages and stimulated with or without inflammatory cytokines. Weighted gene correlation network analysis revealed that UC-MSCs surprisingly possess only limited heterogeneity, regardless of donors, and passages. We also found that upon pretreatment with inflammatory cytokines (IFNγ and TNFα), a classical strategy that can improve the efficiency of MSC-based therapy, MSCs exhibited uniformed changes in gene expression. Cell cycle-based principal component analysis showed that the limited heterogeneity identified in these UC-MSCs was strongly associated with their entrance into the G2/M phase. This was further proven by the observation that one featured gene, CD168, was expressed in a cell cycle-dependent manner. When CD168(high) UC-MSCs were sorted and cultured in vitro, they again showed similar CD168 expression patterns. Our results demonstrated that in vitro expanded UC-MSCs are a well-organized population with limited heterogeneity dominated by cell cycle status. Thus, our studies provided information for standardization of MSCs for disease treatment.