Project description:Molecular and functional significance of CREB1-NRF2 pathway on GSH dynamics of MSCs which critically determines therapeutic outcomes for treating allogeneic conflicts, including GvHD. A simple and reliable method to real-time monitor the redox status of MSCs which precisely predict their core functions including self-renewal, migration, and immunomodulatory capacities.
Project description:Glutathione (GSH), the most abundant nonprotein thiol functioning as an antioxidant, plays critical roles in maintaining the core functions of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are used as a cellular immunotherapy for graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). However, the role of GSH dynamics in MSCs remains elusive. Genome-wide gene expression profiling and high-throughput live-cell imaging assays revealed that CREB1 enforced the GSH-recovering capacity (GRC) of MSCs through NRF2 by directly up-regulating NRF2 target genes responsible for GSH synthesis and redox cycling. MSCs with enhanced GSH levels and GRC mediated by CREB1-NRF2 have improved self-renewal, migratory, anti-inflammatory, and T cell suppression capacities. Administration of MSCs overexpressing CREB1-NRF2 target genes alleviated GVHD in a humanized mouse model, resulting in improved survival, decreased weight loss, and reduced histopathologic damages in GVHD target organs. Collectively, these findings demonstrate the molecular and functional importance of the CREB1-NRF2 pathway in maintaining MSC GSH dynamics, determining therapeutic outcomes for GVHD treatment.
Project description:Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) offers a potentially curative therapy for patients suffering from diseases of the haematopoietic system but requires a high level of expertise and is both resource intensive and expensive. A frequent and life-threatening complication is graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). Acute GvHD (aGvHD) generally causes skin, gastrointestinal and liver symptoms, but chronic GvHD (cGvHD) has a different pathophysiology and may affect nearly every organ or tissue of the body. In Europe, GvHD prophylaxis is generally a calcineurin inhibitor in combination with methotrexate, with high-dose systemic steroids used for advanced GvHD treatment. Between 39% and 59% of alloHSCT patients will develop aGvHD and around 36-37% will develop cGvHD. Steroid response decreases with increasing disease severity, which in turn leads to an increase in non-relapse mortality. GvHD imposes a financial burden on healthcare systems, significantly increasing post-alloHSCT costs. Increased GvHD disease severity magnifies this. Balancing immunosuppression to control the GvHD whilst maintaining a degree of immunocompetence against infection is critical. European GvHD guidelines acknowledge the lack of evidence to support a standard second-line therapy, and improved long-term outcomes and quality-of-life (QoL) remain an unmet need. Evidence generation for potential treatments is challenging. Issues to overcome include choice of comparator (extensive off-label usage); blinding; selection of relevant patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs); and rarity of the condition, which may infeasibly increase timescales to achieve clinical and statistical relevance.
Project description:Mesenchymal stem-cells (MSCs) are of particular interest for treating immune-related diseases due to their immunosuppressive capacities. Here, we show that Small sized MSCs primed with Hypoxia and Calcium ion (SHC-MSCs) exhibit the enhanced functions regarding stemness and immunomodulation for treating allogeneic conflicts. Compared with naïve cultured human umbilical cord-blood MSCs, SHC-MSCs were resistant to the passage dependent cellular senescence mediated by MCP-1 and p53/p21 cascade and highly secreted the pro-angiogenic and immune-modulatory factors, resulting in suppression of T-cell proliferation. Genome-wide DNA methylome and transcriptome analysis indicate that SHC-MSCs characteristically up-regulated immune-modulation, cell adhesion and cell-cycle related genes. As downstream factors, PLK1, ZNF143, DHRS3, and FOG2 proteins played a key role on the beneficial effects of SHC-MSCs, evidenced by the promoted self-renewal, migration, pro-angiogenic, anti-inflammatory, and T cell suppression capacities in their-over-expressing MSCs. Importantly, administration of SHC-MSCs or PLK1-over-expressing cells (PLK1-MSCs) significantly reduced the symptoms of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in a humanized mouse model which led to significantly improved survival, less weight loss, and less histopathologic injuries of GVHD target organs compared with naive MSC-infused mice. Collectively, our study suggests that small-sized MSCs primed with hypoxia could advance the therapeutic strategy for the clinical treatment of allogeneic conflicts including GVHD.
Project description:Mesenchymal stem-cells (MSCs) are of particular interest for treating immune-related diseases due to their immunosuppressive capacities. Here, we show that Small sized MSCs primed with Hypoxia and Calcium ion (SHC-MSCs) exhibit the enhanced functions regarding stemness and immunomodulation for treating allogeneic conflicts. Compared with naïve cultured human umbilical cord-blood MSCs, SHC-MSCs were resistant to the passage dependent cellular senescence mediated by MCP-1 and p53/p21 cascade and highly secreted the pro-angiogenic and immune-modulatory factors, resulting in suppression of T-cell proliferation. Genome-wide DNA methylome and transcriptome analysis indicate that SHC-MSCs characteristically up-regulated immune-modulation, cell adhesion and cell-cycle related genes. As downstream factors, PLK1, ZNF143, DHRS3, and FOG2 proteins played a key role on the beneficial effects of SHC-MSCs, evidenced by the promoted self-renewal, migration, pro-angiogenic, anti-inflammatory, and T cell suppression capacities in their-over-expressing MSCs. Importantly, administration of SHC-MSCs or PLK1-over-expressing cells (PLK1-MSCs) significantly reduced the symptoms of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in a humanized mouse model which led to significantly improved survival, less weight loss, and less histopathologic injuries of GVHD target organs compared with naive MSC-infused mice. Collectively, our study suggests that small-sized MSCs primed with hypoxia could advance the therapeutic strategy for the clinical treatment of allogeneic conflicts including GVHD.
Project description:Immunosuppressive ability in human MSC donors has been shown to be variable and may be a limiting factor in MSC therapeutic efficacy in vivo. The importance of cytokine activation of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) to facilitate their immunosuppressive function is well established. This study sought to further understand the interactions between MSCs and the commonly used calcineurin inhibitor cyclosporine A (CsA). The existing literature regarding approaches that use MSCs and cyclosporine are conflicting regarding the effect of CsA on MSC potency and function. Here, we clearly demonstrate that when added at the same time as MSCs, CsA negatively affects MSC suppression of T cell proliferation. However, licencing MSCs with IFNγ before addition of CsA protects MSCs from this negative effect. Notably, adding CsA to MSCs after IFNγ pre-stimulation enhances MSC production of IDO. Mechanistically, we identified that CsA reduces SOCS1 expression to facilitate enhanced IDO production in IFNγ pre-stimulated MSCs. Importantly, CsA exposure to IFNγ pre-stimulated MSC before administration, significantly enhanced the potency of MSCs in a human relevant humanised mouse model of acute Graft versus Host Disease. In summary, this study identified a novel licencing strategy to enhance MSC potency in vitro and in vivo.
Project description:Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are of particular interest for the treatment of immune-related diseases due to their immunosuppressive capacity. Here, we show that Small MSCs primed with Hypoxia and Calcium ions (SHC-MSCs) exhibit enhanced stemness and immunomodulatory functions for treating allogeneic conflicts. Compared with naïve cultured human umbilical cord blood-derived MSCs, SHC-MSCs were resistant to passage-dependent senescence mediated via the monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and p53/p21 cascade and secreted large amounts of pro-angiogenic and immunomodulatory factors, resulting in suppression of T-cell proliferation. SHC-MSCs showed DNA demethylation in pluripotency, germline, and imprinted genes similarly to very small embryonic-like stem cells, suggesting a potential mutual relationship. Genome-wide DNA methylome and transcriptome analyses indicated that genes related to immune modulation, cell adhesion, and the cell cycle were up-regulated in SHC-MSCs. Particularly, polo-like kinase-1 (PLK1), zinc-finger protein-143, dehydrogenase/reductase-3, and friend-of-GATA2 play a key role in the beneficial effects of SHC-MSCs. Administration of SHC-MSCs or PLK1-overexpressing MSCs significantly ameliorated symptoms of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in a humanized mouse model, resulting in significantly improved survival, less weight loss, and reduced histopathologic injuries in GVHD target organs compared with naïve MSC-infused mice. Collectively, our findings suggest that SHC-MSCs can improve the clinical treatment of allogeneic conflicts, including GVHD.
Project description:The immunosuppressive activity of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) in graft versus host disease (GvHD) is well-documented, but their therapeutic benefit is rather unpredictable. Prospective randomized clinical trials remain the only means to address MSC clinical efficacy. However, the imperfect understanding of MSC biological mechanisms has undermined patients' stratification and the successful design of clinical studies. Furthermore, although MSC efficacy seems to be dependent on patient-associated factors, the role of patients' signature to predict and/or monitor clinical outcomes remains poorly elucidated. The analysis of GvHD patient serum has identified a set of molecules that are associated with high mortality. However, despite their importance in defining GvHD severity, their role in predicting or monitoring response to MSCs has not been confirmed. A new perspective on the use of MSCs for GvHD has been prompted by the recent findings that MSCs are actively induced to undergo apoptosis by recipient cytotoxic cells and that this process is essential to initiate MSC-induced immunosuppression. This discovery has not only reconciled the conundrum between MSC efficacy and their lack of engraftment, but also highlighted the determinant role of the patient in promoting and delivering MSC immunosuppression. In this review we will revisit the extensive use of MSCs for the treatment of GvHD and will elaborate on the need that future clinical trials must depend on mechanistic approaches that facilitate the development of robust and consistent assays to stratify patients and monitor clinical outcomes.