Chin-Kan Chan1,2, Ting-Chun Lin3,4, Yung-An Huang5, Ya-Shan Chen5, Chia-Ling Wu6, Huei-Yu Lo7, Ming-Ling Kuo3,5,8, Kang-Hsi Wu9, Jing-Long Huang10. 1. Department of Pediatrics, Taoyuan General Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan. 2. Hsin Sheng Junior College of Medical Care and Management, Taoyuan, Taiwan. 3. Division of Allergy, Asthma and Rheumatology, Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and College of Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, No. 5, Fu-Hsin Street, Kweishan, Taoyuan, Taiwan. 4. School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. 5. Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. 6. Department of Medical Biotechnology and Laboratory Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. 7. Department of Gynaecology, Taoyuan General Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan. 8. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. 9. Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital and School of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University and Hospitals, Taichung, Taiwan. d5284@mail.cmuh.org.tw. 10. Division of Allergy, Asthma and Rheumatology, Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and College of Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, No. 5, Fu-Hsin Street, Kweishan, Taoyuan, Taiwan. long@adm.cgmh.org.tw.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Asthma is a chronic airway inflammatory disease that has a high prevalence nowadays, and seeking the means of relieving asthmatic symptoms is now an issue with increased importance. While mesenchymal stem cells have been demonstrated to display immunomodulatory effects, the effect of fetus-type mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on asthmatic symptoms in vivo have not been reported to date. METHODS: Female BALB/c mice at 8 weeks of age were sensitized by ovalbumin, and MSCs derived from Wharton's jelly of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) were injected into the asthmatic mice. Airway hyper-responsiveness, lung eosinophil infiltration, cytokine level in splenocyte cultures and serum immunoglobulin level were measured. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine cytokine and immunoglobulin levels. RESULTS: This current study demonstrated that hUCMSCs attenuated both lung lymphocyte and eosinophil infiltration, and significantly decreased the concentration of Th2 cytokines interleukin-5 in splenocyte cultures. CONCLUSIONS: Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells have the advantage of being easily harvested non-invasively and are capable of rapid proliferation, therefore an ideal material for stem cell-based immune therapies. The current study showed that fetal-type MSCs were able to suppress asthmatic symptoms efficiently, and its immunomodulatory effect resulted primarily from suppressing the Th2 pathway in the animal model. This study suggested that hUCMSCs could be an ideal candidate for cell-based therapies of asthma.
BACKGROUND:Asthma is a chronic airway inflammatory disease that has a high prevalence nowadays, and seeking the means of relieving asthmatic symptoms is now an issue with increased importance. While mesenchymal stem cells have been demonstrated to display immunomodulatory effects, the effect of fetus-type mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on asthmatic symptoms in vivo have not been reported to date. METHODS: Female BALB/c mice at 8 weeks of age were sensitized by ovalbumin, and MSCs derived from Wharton's jelly of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) were injected into the asthmatic mice. Airway hyper-responsiveness, lung eosinophil infiltration, cytokine level in splenocyte cultures and serum immunoglobulin level were measured. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine cytokine and immunoglobulin levels. RESULTS: This current study demonstrated that hUCMSCs attenuated both lung lymphocyte and eosinophil infiltration, and significantly decreased the concentration of Th2 cytokines interleukin-5 in splenocyte cultures. CONCLUSIONS:Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells have the advantage of being easily harvested non-invasively and are capable of rapid proliferation, therefore an ideal material for stem cell-based immune therapies. The current study showed that fetal-type MSCs were able to suppress asthmatic symptoms efficiently, and its immunomodulatory effect resulted primarily from suppressing the Th2 pathway in the animal model. This study suggested that hUCMSCs could be an ideal candidate for cell-based therapies of asthma.