Research findings from Professor Weidong Tian's team selected as China’s major medical achievements in 2020
On April 17, 2021, the first China Medical Development Conference was held in Beijing with the theme of "Blueprint of China medical innovation system and core base construction in the new era". The conference released China’s major medical achievements in the 21st century and China’s major medical achievements in 2020.
The research findings from our school entitled “Discovery of a new type of dental pulp regenerative multipotent stem cells for pulpo-dentinal complex regeneration", which were accomplished by Professor Weidong Tian's team, were selected as one of the two major medical achievements of China in 2020 in the field of Stomatology. In this study, through three-dimensional spheroid culture, a group of unique multipotent stem cells were identified from mouse dental papilla called multipotent dental pulp regenerative stem cells (MDPSCs). MDPSCs exhibited enhanced osteogenic/odontogenic differentiation capabilities and could form regenerative dentin and neurovascular-like structures that mimicked the native teeth in vivo. The study also revealed that CD24a was the specific marker for multipotency of MDPSCs. These cells can be used as a new type of seed cells for tissue engineering regeneration of the pulpo-dentinal complex with high efficiency, and this will bring new breakthroughs for the potential treatment of pulpitis and pulp necrosis. (Access to the original research article:
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/15/eaay1514/tab-pdf)
The achievement of Professor Tian's team not only shed light on the hidden treasure of underappreciated sub populations in tooth mesenchymal tissues, but also provided an excellent alternative cell source for potential translational use in both clinical translational medicine and basic research.
The selection criteria of China’s major medical achievements in 2020 were based on research findings from December 25, 2019 to December 31, 2020 with high academic and social influence and potential to promote discipline development, clinical diagnosis and treatment, and industrial development. The selection procedures included materials collection, preliminary screening, calculation of multiple measurements, expert assessment, calculation of multi-agent evaluation index, calculation of comprehensive index, evaluation by members of Academic Advisory Committee of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and justification by the final adjudication committee.
