ABSTRACT
AIM:To investigate the myocardial protective effect of endometrial stem cell ( EnSC)-derived cyto-kine cocktail ( EdCC) on myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury and the MEK-ERK signaling pathway.METHODS: A mouse model of myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury was established.Infarct area, cell apoptosis, and expression of cleaved caspase-3 and phosphorylatied ERK1/2 were determined by TTC/Evans blue staining, TUNEL assay and Western blot, respectively.RESULTS:The mesenchymal characteristics were observed in the EnSCs with expressing CD90 and in absence of CD34 and CD45.EdCC contained (6 811 ±312) ng/g epidermal growth factor (EGF) protein.The phospho-rylation of ERK1/2 markedly increased after injection of EdCC, but was abolished by MEK1 inhibitor PD98059 ( 5 mg/kg) .EdCC decreased the infarct area and apoptotic cell number in the border zone and inhibited caspase-3 activation. However, the effects were abolished by MEK1 specific inhibitor PD98059.EGF did not decrease the infarct area, but the EGF receptor antagonist AG-1487 (6 mg/kg) partly abolished the myocardial protective effect of EdCC.CONCLUSION:EdCC protects the myocardium from ischemic reperfusion injury via activating MEK1-ERK signaling pathway, indicating an essential role in the transmission of stem cell therapy from the cell transplantation to cytokine based strategy.
ABSTRACT
Dendritic cells (DC) are highly efficient antigen-presenting cells that initiate the primary immune response. Several laboratories have developed culture systems for human DC from peripheral blood monocytes. Most of these studies have used fetal calf serum (FCS) containing culture conditions that are inappropriate for human application. GM-CSF and IL-4 were used to make immature DC. The monocyte-conditioned medium (MCM) was used to induce the final maturation of DC. Using the previously described methods, the quality of MCM has unpredictable variations. Therefore using a defined cocktail of growth factors for the generation of mature DC would be advantageous for experimental as well as clinical purposes. In this study, it is suggested that combinations of both GM-CSF/IL-4 or GM-CSF/IL-13 could be used as the first-step culture to produce immature DC, and that cytokine cocktail (GM-CSF, IL-4, IL-1beta, TNF-alpha, IL-6, PGE2) was as efficient as MCM for the second step-culture to produce fully maturated DC. Here, we have generated an easily reproducible culture system for DC that allows for the generation of large amounts of immature and mature DC, and we also now have established the method in a FCS-free system that is suitable for clinical use.