Fig 2: (a) Wharton's jelly stripped from the umbilical cord. (b) P3-generation hWJMSCs morphology under an optical inverted microscope. (c) Osteogenic differentiation of hWJMSCs stained with alizarin red ( × 100). (d) hWJMSCs differentiated into fat and stained with oil red O ( × 200). (e) hWJMSCs differentiated into cartilage and stained with alcian blue ( × 40). (f) Flow cytometry showed that hWJMSCs highly expressed CD73, CD90, and CD105 (both =95%) but did not express CD34 and CD45 (both =2%). (g) TEM shows that Exos have the shape of a disc with a diameter of approximately 100 nm (Exos shown by the red arrowhead). (h) NTA shows the particle size distribution of Exos. (i) WB results for the Exo markers CD9, TSG101, and CD63 and the negative marker Calnexin. CL is a positive control (cell lysate). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

Fig 3: Characterisation of ex vivo models.a Phase contrast images showing distinct morphologies of stromal and tumour cells. Scale bar, 200 µm. b Time-lapse imaging measuring confluency showing suppression of proliferation by 1 µM cisplatin and 100 nM paclitaxel. c Immunofluorescence images showing expression of PAX8 and Ki67. Scale bar, 50 µm. d Flow cytometry profiles quantitating the tumour markers EpCAM and CA125, and the stromal markers CD44 and CD105. Numbers represent percentage of cells in the quadrant. e Immunofluorescence images of Nutlin-3-treated cells (OCM.79) showing stabilisation of p53 in stromal cells but not tumour, and DNA sequence showing TP53 mutation in tumour cells (OCM.38a). Scale bar, 20 µm. Data in panels a and c are derived from analysis of OCM.79, while data in panels b and d are derived from analysis of OCMs 38a, and 66-5 respectively. Panels a, c and e are representative images from single experiments. Source data for panels b, c and d are provided as a Source Data file, including the gating/sorting strategy for panel d. See also Supplementary Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig 4: (A) Flow cytometric characterization of IFPSCs at day 14 (P2), with unstained cells serving as the negative control. The cells were characterized according to the surface antigen expression of CD90, CD105, CD166 and CD45, as well as the transcription factor Sox2 and early neuronal marker nestin. (B) Immunocytochemical analysis of IFPSCs for stem cell markers at day 14 (P2; magnification, ×20). FITC-stained images show the positive expression of the following stem cell-specific markers: (a) Nucleostemin, (b) Nanog, (c) CD166, (d) CD105 and (e) CD13, with (f) unstained cells serving as the negative control. Scale bar, 50 µm. IFPSCs, infrapatellar fat pad-derived stem cells; FITC, fluorescein isothiocyanate; PE, phycoerythrin; APC, allophycocyanin; Sox2, SRY-box 2.

Fig 5: Identification and characterization of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs). (A) Flow cytometry analysis of the expression of positive (CD29, CD44, CD90, CD105) and negative (CD34, CD45) cell surface markers of hBMSCs. (B) Alizarin Red S staining for hBMSCs culturing for 21 days in osteogenic medium or basal medium. (C) Adipogenic differentiation potential of hBMSCs in vitro. Oil Red O staining for hBMSCs culturing for 14 days in adipogenic medium or basal medium. (D) Chondrogenic differentiation potential of hBMSCs in vitro. Alcian blue staining for hBMSCs culturing for 28 days in chondrogenic medium or basal medium with the method of micromass (magnification: ×100). Quantification of positively stained area recognized by image J was also shown in graph. All experiments were repeated independently in triplicate. Data were presented as mean ± SD (n = 3); #P <0.01.