Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche e Molecolari, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
Centro di Tecnologie Avanzate nell'Invecchiamento, IRCCS-INRCA, Ancona, Italy.
PLoS One. 2018 Jun 1;13(6):e0196048. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0196048. eCollection 2018.
Lung fibrosis is a severe condition resulting from several interstial lung diseases (ILD) with different etiologies. Current therapy of ILD, especially those associated with connective tissue diseases, is rather limited and new anti-fibrotic strategies are needed. In this study, we investigated the anti-fibrotic activity in vivo of human mesenchymal stromal cells obtained from whole umbilical cord (hUC-MSC). Adult immunocompetent C57BL/6 mice (n. = 8 for each experimental condition) were injected intravenously with hUC-MSC (n. = 2.5 × 105) twice, 24 hours and 7 days after endotracheal injection of bleomycin. Upon sacrifice at days 8, 14, 21, collagen content, inflammatory cytokine profile, and hUC-MSC presence in explanted lung tissue were analyzed. Systemic administration of a double dose of hUC-MSC significantly reduced bleomycin-induced lung injury (inflammation and fibrosis) in mice through a selective inhibition of the IL6-IL10-TGFβ axis involving lung M2 macrophages. Only few hUC-MSC were detected from explanted lungs, suggesting a "hit and run" mechanism of action of this cellular therapy. Our data indicate that hUC-MSC possess strong in vivo anti-fibrotic activity in a mouse model resembling an immunocompetent human subject affected by inflammatory ILD, providing proof of concept for ad-hoc clinical trials.
肺纤维化是由多种不同病因的间质性肺病(ILD)引起的严重疾病。ILD 的当前治疗方法,特别是与结缔组织疾病相关的ILD,受到很大限制,需要新的抗纤维化策略。在这项研究中,我们研究了来源于整个脐带的人间充质基质细胞(hUC-MSC)的体内抗纤维化活性。成年免疫功能正常的 C57BL/6 小鼠(每种实验条件下 n = 8)在气管内注射博来霉素后 24 小时和 7 天,两次静脉注射 hUC-MSC(n = 2.5 × 105)。在第 8、14、21 天处死时,分析胶原含量、炎症细胞因子谱和移植肺组织中 hUC-MSC 的存在。两次给予 hUC-MSC 可显著减轻博来霉素诱导的肺损伤(炎症和纤维化),通过选择性抑制涉及肺 M2 巨噬细胞的 IL6-IL10-TGFβ 轴。从移植肺中仅检测到少量 hUC-MSC,提示这种细胞治疗的“打击即跑”作用机制。我们的数据表明,hUC-MSC 在一种类似于受炎症性 ILD 影响的免疫功能正常的人类个体的小鼠模型中具有很强的体内抗纤维化活性,为专门的临床试验提供了概念验证。