Department of Anatomy and Convergence Medical Sciences, Pusan National University College of Medicine, Yangsan 626-870, Republic of Korea.
Immune Reconstitution Research Center of Medical Research Institute, Pusan National University College of Medicine, Yangsan 626-870, Republic of Korea.
Mar Drugs. 2023 Oct 12;21(10):531. doi: 10.3390/md21100531.
Prolonged thymic involution results in decreased thymopoiesis and thymic output, leading to peripheral T-cell deficiency. Since the thymic-dependent pathway is the only means of generating fully mature T cells, the identification of strategies to enhance thymic regeneration is crucial in developing therapeutic interventions to revert immune suppression in immunocompromised patients. The present study clearly shows that fish collagen peptides (FCPs) stimulate activities of thymic epithelial cells (TECs), including cell proliferation, thymocyte adhesion, and the gene expression of thymopoietic factors such as FGF-7, IGF-1, BMP-4, VEGF-A, IL-7, IL-21, RANKL, LTβ, IL-22R, RANK, LTβR, SDF-1, CCL21, CCL25, CXCL5, Dll1, Dll4, Wnt4, CD40, CD80, CD86, ICAM-1, VCAM-1, FoxN1, leptin, cathepsin L, CK5, and CK8 through the NF-κB signal transduction pathway. Furthermore, our study also revealed the cytoprotective effects of FCPs on TECs against cyclophosphamide-induced cellular injury through the NF-κB signaling pathway. Importantly, FCPs exhibited a significant capability to facilitate thymic regeneration in mice after cyclophosphamide-induced damage via the NF-κB pathway. Taken together, this study sheds light on the role of FCPs in TEC function, thymopoiesis, and thymic regeneration, providing greater insight into the development of novel therapeutic strategies for effective thymus repopulation for numerous clinical conditions in which immune reconstitution is required.
胸腺的长期退化会导致胸腺生成减少和输出减少,从而导致外周 T 细胞缺陷。由于胸腺依赖性途径是产生完全成熟 T 细胞的唯一途径,因此确定增强胸腺再生的策略对于开发逆转免疫抑制的治疗干预措施至关重要。本研究清楚地表明,鱼胶原蛋白肽(FCPs)通过 NF-κB 信号转导途径刺激胸腺上皮细胞(TEC)的活性,包括细胞增殖、胸腺细胞黏附以及胸腺生成因子如 FGF-7、IGF-1、BMP-4、VEGF-A、IL-7、IL-21、RANKL、LTβ、IL-22R、RANK、LTβR、SDF-1、CCL21、CCL25、CXCL5、Dll1、Dll4、Wnt4、CD40、CD80、CD86、ICAM-1、VCAM-1、FoxN1、瘦素、组织蛋白酶 L、CK5 和 CK8 的基因表达。此外,我们的研究还揭示了 FCPs 通过 NF-κB 信号通路对 TEC 对抗环磷酰胺诱导的细胞损伤的细胞保护作用。重要的是,FCPs 通过 NF-κB 通路在环磷酰胺诱导损伤后在小鼠中表现出显著促进胸腺再生的能力。总之,这项研究阐明了 FCPs 在 TEC 功能、胸腺生成和胸腺再生中的作用,为开发有效的新型治疗策略提供了更多的见解,以有效重建多种需要免疫重建的临床情况下的胸腺。