Testicular Stem Cells: Lineage-Specific Differentiation of SSCs and Therapeutic Applications

Call for Papers

Significant advances in the field of testicular stem cell biology have increased the potential for clinical utilization of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) in regenerative medicine therapies. Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) have already been demonstrated to give rise in vitro to several differentiated cell lineages that contribute to tissue repair. These SSCs have a major advantage for therapeutic clinical applications since they avoid the current ethical issues of using human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and the technical limitations inherent in utilization of pluripotent cells (iPs) for therapeutic treatment of human degenerative diseases.

The immediate clinical therapeutic applications for SSCs include treatment of male infertility and the repair/correction of dysfunctional tissues that cause endocrine and metabolic diseases. The development of protocols for the establishment of human SSCs cultures from testicular biopsies will facilitate further research studies that will provide new insights into the mechanisms promoting several of these tissue-specific genetic diseases. We invite authors to submit original research and review articles to this special issue. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Advances in in vitro culture conditions that promote the proliferation and selective lineage-specific differentiation of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs)
• Identification of tissue-specific molecular markers for characterization of in vitro differentiated SSC populations
• Gene expression patterns that are associated with lineage-specific differentiation of SSCs under defined in vitro culture conditions
• Regulation of pluripotent gene expression (Oct4, Sox2, Myc, and Klf4) in SSCs
• Elucidation of the role that miRNAs play in regulating lineage-specific differentiation of SSCs
• Epigenetic genomic modifications that specify lineage-specific SSC differentiation under defined in vitro culture conditions

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/gri/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/gri/tscls/ according to the following timetable:

Lead Guest Editor

• Kelwyn Thomas, Cooperative Reproductive Science Research Center, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30310, USA

Guest Editors

• Gerald Schatten, Division of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
• Jesus del Mazo, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Centro de Investigaciones Biologicas, CSIC, Maeztu, 28040 Madrid, Spain