The effect of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells transplantation for the MRL/Ipr mice / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the efficacy of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) transplantation in the treatment of the MRL/lpr mice. Methods Twenty four 18-week-old MRL/lpr female mice were divided into 3 groupsgroup 1 (G1) were transplanted with 1×106 UC- MSCs through caudal vein, group 2 (G2) were transplanted with 1×106 UC- MSCs three times and group 3 (G3) were treated with 0.5 ml normal saline as controls. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure the levels of serum anti-dsDNA antibodies. Twenty-four hours proteinuria and body weight were assessed every two weeks. The histopathology changes of the kidneys and lungs were observed. Results ① At the 25th weeks, the 24 hours proteinuria in group G1 (2.3±1.9) mg and G2 (1.8±1.4) mg was decreased than that in the control group (3.8±2.1) mg (P<0.05), and at the 27th weeks, that of groups G1 (2.5±1.5) mg and G2 (1.9±1.2) mg was also significantly decreased than in the control group (5.4±2.4) mg (P<0.01); ② From the 24th week, the body weight of groups G1 and G2 increased significantly than that of the control group (P< 0.05). At week 29, serum creatinine decreased significantly in both groups G1 (7.2±3.2) μmol/L and G2 (6.2±2.8) μmol/L than in the control group (12.5±2.3 ) μmol/L (P<0.05); ③One week after transplantation, the levels of anti-dsDNA antibodies in group G1 (46±11)×102 U/ml and G2(49×43)×102 U/ml were bothsignificantly decreased than those of the control groups (99±42)×102 U/ml (P<0.05) and the difference between group G2 (36±15)×102 U/ml and the controls (68±32)×102 U/ml was statistically significant; ④The nephron crescent formation in group G1 (0.12±0.07) and G2 (0.08±0.02) was significantly lower that of the control group (0.20±0.06) (P<0.05) and that of group G2 was significantly less that of froup G1 (P<0.05); ⑤ The interstitial pneumonitis was singnificantly milder in group G1 than group G2. Conclusions UC- MSCs is very effective in treating MRL/lpr mice. It is safe and free of rejection reactions.