Published online Nov 26, 2023. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v15.i11.999
Peer-review started: August 15, 2023
First decision: September 5, 2023
Revised: September 28, 2023
Accepted: October 30, 2023
Article in press: October 30, 2023
Published online: November 26, 2023
Processing time: 100 Days and 21.3 Hours
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have great potential in the treatment of a variety of immune-related diseases due to their unique immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory abilities. However, after intravenous transplantation, MSCs cannot effectively exert their biological effects when they encounter a harsh environment in vivo, which reduces the efficacy of cell therapy. To increase transplantation efficacy, appropriate pretreatment methods are particularly important.
Although a variety of pretreatment methods are used to increase MSC transplantation efficacy, suitable and effective in vitro pretreatment methods are still worth studying.
To evaluate whether umbilical cord MSCs (UC-MSCs) pretreated with hypoxia exposure and inflammatory factors show enhanced immunosuppressive effects without affecting cell biological characteristics.
In this study, we used a combination of hypoxia (2% O2) and inflammatory factors (interleukin-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α, interferon-γ) to pretreat UC-MSCs for 24 h to simulate the in vivo injury environment. We then comprehensively evaluated the biological properties of pretreated UC-MSCs and investigated their immunosuppressive properties.
Our results showed that compared to UC-MSCs, pretreated UC-MSCs were morphologically elongated, but their viability, proliferation and size were not affected, the expression of coagulation-related tissue factors was significantly reduced, and mitochondria maintained their function and integrity. Although some cells underwent apoptosis or senescence, polymerase chain reactions and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays revealed a significant increase in the levels of immunomodulation-related factors. Coculture with peripheral blood mononuclear cell and natural killer cells exerted a stronger immunosuppressive effect.
The combined pretreatment of hypoxia exposure and inflammatory factors enhanced the immunosuppressive ability of MSCs but did not affect the biological characteristics of these cells.
Our study provides new strategies for the preconditioning of UC-MSCs.