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Many preclinical studies have shown that birth-associated tissues, cells and their secreted factors, otherwise known as perinatal derivatives (PnD), possess various biological properties that make them suitable therapeutic candidates for the treatment of numerous pathological conditions. Nevertheless, in the field of PnD research, there is a lack of critical evaluation of the PnD standardization process: from preparation to in vitro testing, an issue that may ultimately delay clinical translation. In this paper, we present the PnD e-questionnaire developed to assess the current state of the art of methods used in the published literature for the procurement, isolation, culturing preservation and characterization of PnD in vitro . Furthermore, we also propose a consensus for the scientific community on the minimal criteria that should be reported to facilitate standardization, reproducibility and transparency of data in PnD research. Lastly, based on the data from the PnD e-questionnaire, we recommend to provide adequate information on the characterization of the PnD. The PnD e-questionnaire is now freely available to the scientific community in order to guide researchers on the minimal criteria that should be clearly reported in their manuscripts. This review is a collaborative effort from the COST SPRINT action (CA17116), which aims to guide future research to facilitate the translation of basic research findings on PnD into clinical practice., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The authors declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2023 Janev, Banerjee, Weidinger, Dimec, Leskošek, Silini, Cirman, Wolbank, Ramuta, Jerman, Pandolfi, Di Pietro, Pozzobon, Giebel, Eissner, Ferk, Lang-Olip, Alviano, Soritau, Parolini and Kreft.)

Perinatal derivatives or PnDs refer to tissues, cells and secretomes from perinatal, or birth-associated tissues. In the past 2 decades PnDs have been highly investigated for their multimodal mechanisms of action that have been exploited in various disease settings, including in different cancers and infections. Indeed, there is growing evidence that PnDs possess anticancer and antimicrobial activities, but an urgent issue that needs to be addressed is the reproducible evaluation of efficacy, both in vitro and in vivo . Herein we present the most commonly used functional assays for the assessment of antitumor and antimicrobial properties of PnDs, and we discuss their advantages and disadvantages in assessing the functionality. This review is part of a quadrinomial series on functional assays for the validation of PnDs spanning biological functions such as immunomodulation, anticancer and antimicrobial, wound healing, and regeneration., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Silini, Ramuta, Pires, Banerjee, Dubus, Gindraux, Kerdjoudj, Maciulatis, Weidinger, Wolbank, Eissner, Giebel, Pozzobon, Parolini and Kreft.)

Perinatal tissues, such as placenta and umbilical cord contain a variety of somatic stem cell types, spanning from the largely used hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells to the most recently described broadly multipotent epithelial and stromal cells. As perinatal derivatives (PnD), several of these cell types and related products provide an interesting regenerative potential for a variety of diseases. Within COST SPRINT Action, we continue our review series, revising and summarizing the modalities of action and proposed medical approaches using PnD products: cells, secretome, extracellular vesicles, and decellularized tissues. Focusing on the brain, bone, skeletal muscle, heart, intestinal, liver, and lung pathologies, we discuss the importance of potency testing in validating PnD therapeutics, and critically evaluate the concept of PnD application in the field of tissue regeneration. Hereby we aim to shed light on the actual therapeutic properties of PnD, with an open eye for future clinical application. This review is part of a quadrinomial series on functional/potency assays for validation of PnD, spanning biological functions, such as immunomodulation, anti-microbial/anti-cancer, anti-inflammation, wound healing, angiogenesis, and regeneration., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Pozzobon, D’Agostino, Roubelakis, Cargnoni, Gramignoli, Wolbank, Gindraux, Bollini, Kerdjoudj, Fenelon, Di Pietro, Basile, Borutinskaitė, Piva, Schoeberlein, Eissner, Giebel and Ponsaerts.)

Perinatal tissues, mainly the placenta and umbilical cord, contain a variety of different somatic stem and progenitor cell types, including those of the hematopoietic system, multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), epithelial cells and amnion epithelial cells. Several of these perinatal derivatives (PnDs), as well as their secreted products, have been reported to exert immunomodulatory therapeutic and regenerative functions in a variety of pre-clinical disease models. Following experience with MSCs and their extracellular vesicle (EV) products, successful clinical translation of PnDs will require robust functional assays that are predictive for the relevant therapeutic potency. Using the examples of T cell and monocyte/macrophage assays, we here discuss several assay relevant parameters for assessing the immunomodulatory activities of PnDs. Furthermore, we highlight the need to correlate the in vitro assay results with preclinical or clinical outcomes in order to ensure valid predictions about the in vivo potency of therapeutic PnD cells/products in individual disease settings., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Papait, Silini, Gazouli, Malvicini, Muraca, O’Driscoll, Pacienza, Toh, Yannarelli, Ponsaerts, Parolini, Eissner, Pozzobon, Lim and Giebel.)

Perinatal derivatives (PnD) are birth-associated tissues, such as placenta, umbilical cord, amniotic and chorionic membrane, and thereof-derived cells as well as secretomes. PnD play an increasing therapeutic role with beneficial effects on the treatment of various diseases. The aim of this review is to elucidate the modes of action of non-hematopoietic PnD on inflammation, angiogenesis and wound healing. We describe the source and type of PnD with a special focus on their effects on inflammation and immune response, on vascular function as well as on cutaneous and oral wound healing, which is a complex process that comprises hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation (including epithelialization, angiogenesis), and remodeling. We further evaluate the different in vitro assays currently used for assessing selected functional and therapeutic PnD properties. This review is a joint effort from the COST SPRINT Action (CA17116) with the intention to promote PnD into the clinics. It is part of a quadrinomial series on functional assays for validation of PnD, spanning biological functions, such as immunomodulation, anti-microbial/anti-cancer activities, anti-inflammation, wound healing, angiogenesis, and regeneration., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Flores, Pipino, Jerman, Liarte, Gindraux, Kreft, Nicolas, Pandolfi, Tratnjek, Giebel, Pozzobon, Silini, Parolini, Eissner and Lang-Olip.)

Progress in the understanding of the biology of perinatal tissues has contributed to the breakthrough revelation of the therapeutic effects of perinatal derivatives (PnD), namely birth-associated tissues, cells, and secreted factors. The significant knowledge acquired in the past two decades, along with the increasing interest in perinatal derivatives, fuels an urgent need for the precise identification of PnD and the establishment of updated consensus criteria policies for their characterization. The aim of this review is not to go into detail on preclinical or clinical trials, but rather we address specific issues that are relevant for the definition/characterization of perinatal cells, starting from an understanding of the development of the human placenta, its structure, and the different cell populations that can be isolated from the different perinatal tissues. We describe where the cells are located within the placenta and their cell morphology and phenotype. We also propose nomenclature for the cell populations and derivatives discussed herein. This review is a joint effort from the COST SPRINT Action (CA17116), which broadly aims at approaching consensus for different aspects of PnD research, such as providing inputs for future standards for the processing and in vitro characterization and clinical application of PnD., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Silini, Di Pietro, Lang-Olip, Alviano, Banerjee, Basile, Borutinskaite, Eissner, Gellhaus, Giebel, Huang, Janev, Kreft, Kupper, Abadía-Molina, Olivares, Pandolfi, Papait, Pozzobon, Ruiz-Ruiz, Soritau, Susman, Szukiewicz, Weidinger, Wolbank, Huppertz and Parolini.)