Almost from all organs, both mesenchymal stromal cells and fibroblasts can be isolated. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are the most preferred cellular therapeutic agents with the regenerative potential, and fibroblasts are one of the most abundant cell types with the ability to maintain homeostasis. Because of the promising properties of MSCs, they have been well studied and their differentiation potentials, immunomodulatory potentials, gene expression profiles are identified. It has been observed that fibroblasts and mesenchymal stromal cells have similar morphology, gene expression patterns, surface markers, proliferation, differentiation, and immunomodulatory capacities. Thus, it is hard to distinguish these two cell types. Epigenetic signatures, i.e., methylation patterns of cells, are the only usable promising difference between them. Such significant similarities show that these two cells may be related to each other.

几乎从所有器官中，都可以分离出间充质基质细胞和成纤维细胞。间充质基质细胞 (MSC) 是最优选的具有再生潜力的细胞治疗剂，成纤维细胞是最丰富的细胞类型之一，具有维持体内平衡的能力。由于 MSCs 的有前途的特性，它们已经被很好地研究并且鉴定了它们的分化潜能、免疫调节潜能、基因表达谱。已经观察到成纤维细胞和间充质基质细胞具有相似的形态、基因表达模式、表面标志物、增殖、分化和免疫调节能力。因此，很难区分这两种细胞类型。表观遗传特征，即细胞的甲基化模式，是它们之间唯一可用的有希望的差异。