Transplantation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:Systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune disease characterized as an emergence of a variety of autoantibodies in serum and multi-system and multi-organ lesions. Currently, there is a lack of effective treatment options, and umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cel s are a promising therapy for systemic lupus erythematosus based on cel biological roles. OBJECTIVE:To observe the therapeutic efficacy of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cel transplantation in the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus in mice. METHODS:Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cel s were isolated and cultured fol owed by labeling with DiR fluorescence. Experimental mice were divided into normal control group (C57BL mice), model control group (C57BL/lpr mice), low-, medium-and high-dose umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cel therapy groups (C57BL/lpr mice), with 10 mice in each group. Mice in the low-, medium-and high-dose groups were respectively injected 0.5×106, 1×106, 2×106 human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cel s, once a week, for 3 consecutive weeks. At the end of treatment, blood samples were col ected to measure antinuclear antibody, anti-histone antibody, anti-double stranded DNA antibody changes;OPG and Foxp3 gene expression changes were detected by quantitative PCR method. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:After treatment, the levels of anti-nuclear antibodies, anti-histone antibodies and anti-double stranded DNA antibodies in the peripheral blood of mice were al declined in the low-, medium-and high-dose groups, while the number of peripheral blood CD4+CD25+T cel s was significantly elevated. OPG and Foxp3 gene expression was also increased dramatical y in the low-, medium-and high-dose groups, which was similar to that in the normal control group and significantly different from that in the model control group (P<0.01). Experimental findings demonstrate that after transplantation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cel s, al relevant indicators in C57BL/lpr mice recovered to the normal levels, and the high-dose treatment group had the most obvious effect.