ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the expression of soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (sFlt1) in human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (HUCMSC) under the condition of inflammatory cytokine and co-culture with rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes (RA-FLSs).Methods ① HUCMSC were cultured alone or stimulated by Tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-αt,interferon (IFN)-γor the combination of TNF-α and IFN-γ.The sFh1 levels of each group were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) at 24 h,48 h and 72 h respectively.② RA-FLSs and HUCMSC were cocultured in a transwell system with both of them cultured alone as control for 72 hours.ELISA was used to detect sFlt1 levels in each group.T test was used for comparison between two groups,and ANOVA was used to compare multi-group variables.Results ① The sFlt1 levels of TNF-α + IFN-γ group were significantly higher than those of the control group at 24 h and 48 h (24 h (5.4±0.4) ng/ml vs (2.8±1.7) ng/ml,t=0.942,P=0.026;48 h (7.2±0.8) vs (4.3±1.0) ng/ml,t=4.285,P=0.005),while that at 72 h was not significantly different [(9.1±1.7) ng/ml vs (7.0±1.4) ng/ml,t=0.683,P=0.52].And no significant difference in sFlt1 levels between control group and TNF-α group or IFN-γ stimulation group were observed.② Compared with RA-FLSs,the expression of sFlt1 in HUCMSC was significantly higher (8.19±3.64) ng/ml vs (0.19±0.08) ng/ml,t=7.280,P＜0.01].After co-cultured with RA-FLSs and HUCMSC,the sFlt1 concentration of the co-culture group was significantly higher than that of HUCMSC group [(17.26±6.92) ng/ml vs (8.19±3.64) ng/ml,t=3.985,P=0.000 7].Conclusion The sFlt1 expression of HUCMSC is up-regulated by inflammatory cytokine TNF-α combined with IFN-γ.RA FLSs may promote the co-cultured HUCMSC to increase sFlt1 expression by secreting inflammatory factors.