International Journal of Molecular Sciences Article Comparative Proteomic Analysis Identifies EphA2 as a Specific Cell Surface Marker for Wharton’s Jelly-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Ashraf Al Madhoun 1,2,* , Sulaiman K. Marafie 3 , Dania Haddad 2, Motasem Melhem 2, Mohamed Abu-Farha 3 , Hamad Ali 2,4 , Sardar Sindhu 1 , Maher Atari 5 and Fahd Al-Mulla 2 1 Department of Animal and Imaging Core Facilities, Dasman Diabetes Institute, Dasman 15462, Kuwait;
[email protected] 2 Department of Genetics and Bioinformatics, Dasman Diabetes Institute, Dasman 15462, Kuwait;
[email protected] (D.H.);
[email protected] (M.M.);
[email protected] (H.A.);
[email protected] (F.A.-M.) 3 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dasman Diabetes Institute, Dasman 15462, Kuwait; sulaiman.marafi
[email protected] (S.K.M.);
[email protected] (M.A.-F.) 4 Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Health Sciences Center (HSC), Kuwait University, Jabriya 046302, Kuwait 5 Medical-Surgical Pathology Department, Regenerative Medicine Research Institute, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, 08195 Barcelona, Spain;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 28 June 2020; Accepted: 1 September 2020; Published: 3 September 2020 Abstract: Wharton’s jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) are a valuable tool in stem cell research due to their high proliferation rate, multi-lineage differentiation potential, and immunotolerance properties. However, fibroblast impurity during WJ-MSCs isolation is unavoidable because of morphological similarities and shared surface markers. Here, a proteomic approach was employed to identify specific proteins differentially expressed by WJ-MSCs in comparison to those by neonatal foreskin and adult skin fibroblasts (NFFs and ASFs, respectively).