This book provides the first comprehensive account of multilineage-differentiating stress-enduring (Muse) cells, a pluripotent and non-tumorigenic subpopulation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that have the ability to detect damage signals, migrate to damaged sites, and spontaneously differentiate into cells compatible with the affected tissue, thereby enabling repair of all tissue types. The coverage encompasses everything from the basic properties of Muse cells to their tissue repair effects and potential clinical applications—for example, in acute myocardial infarction, stroke, skin injuries and ulcers, renal failure, and liver disease. An important technical chapter provides a practical and precise protocol for the isolation of Muse cells, which will enable readers to use Muse cells in their own research. In offering fascinating insights into the strategic organization of the body’s reparative function and explaining how full utilization of Muse cells may significantly enhancethe effectiveness of MSC treatment, the book will be of high value for Ph.D. students, postdocs, basic researchers, clinical doctors, and industrial developers.

Mari Dezawa, M.D., Ph.D., is professor and chairperson at the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Histology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine (Japan). She has contributed to regenerative medicine by discovering non-tumorigenic reparative pluripotent stem cells, multilineage-differentiating stress-enduring (Muse) cells that naturally reside in the living body. Dr. Dezawa graduated from Chiba University School of Medicine in 1989 and gained her Ph.D. from the same university in 1995. In 2000 she joined Yokohama City University, where she started mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) research. After moving to Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine as associate professor in 2003, she discovered methods to induce neurons and skeletal muscle cells from human MSCs by combining gene introduction and cytokine stimulation. In 2008, she became professor and chair of the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Histology at Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine. She subsequently has published a number of articles in leading journals on Muse cells and their reparative functions in animal disease models. Dr. Dezawa is the author of more than 120 original articles in international journals and serves as an editorial board member of several international journals. She is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, USA.