Safety and efficacy of global intracoronary administration of cardiosphere-derived cells or conditioned medium immediately after coronary reperfusion in rats

Mesenchyme Stem Cell-Derived Conditioned Medium as a Potential Therapeutic Tool in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Mesenchyme Stem Cells (MSCs) are the most used types of stem cells in regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine is a rapidly emerging medicine section that creates new methods to regrow, restore, and replace diseased and damaged tissues, organs, and cells. Scholars have shown a positive correlation between MSCs-based therapies and successful treatment of diseases like cardiac ischemia, cartilage problems, bone diseases, diabetes, and even neurological disorders. Although MSCs have several varying features that make them unique, their immuno-regulatory effects in tissue repair emerge from their secretion of paracrine growth factors, exosomes, and cytokines. These cells secrete a secretome, which has regenerative and reparative properties that lead to injury amelioration, immune modulation, or fibrosis reduction. Recent studies have shown that the administration MCSs derived conditioned medium (MSCs-CM) in acute doses in humans is safe and well-tolerated. Studies from animal models and human clinical trials have also shown that they are efficacious tools in regenerative medicine. In this review, we will explore the therapeutic potential of MSCs-CM in pulmonary fibrosis, with further insight into the treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF).

Epicardium-Derived Tbx18+ CDCs Transplantation Improve Heart Function in Infarcted Mice

Cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs) constitute a cardiac stem cell pool, a promising therapeutics in treating myocardial infarction (MI). However, the cell source of CDCs remains unclear. In this study, we isolated CDCs directly from adult mouse heart epicardium named primary epicardium-derived CDCs (pECDCs), which showed a different expression profile compared with primary epicardial cells (pEpiCs). Interestingly, pECDCs highly expressed T-box transcription factor 18 (Tbx18) and showed multipotent differentiation ability in vitro. Human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) transduction could inhibit aging-induced pECDCs apoptosis and differentiation, thus keeping a better proliferation capacity. Furthermore, immortalized epicardium CDCs (iECDCs) transplantation extensively promote cardiogenesis in the infracted mouse heart. This study demonstrated epicardium-derived CDCs that may derive from Tbx18+ EpiCs, which possess the therapeutic potential to be applied to cardiac repair and regeneration and suggest a new kind of CDCs with identified origination that may be followed in the developing and injured heart.

Conditioned medium from a human adipose-derived stem cell line ameliorates inflammation and fibrosis in a lung experimental model of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic, progressive parenchymal lung disease that results in fibrogenesis and the conditioned medium from adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (CM-ADSCs) has been shown to be efficacious in pulmonary fibrosis animal models. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effect of CM-ADSCs on lung inflammation and fibrosis in a Bleomycin (BLM)-induced pulmonary fibrosis model. CM-ADSCs safety and toxicity were evaluated in Sprague Dawley rats and no adverse effects were observed. Six-week-old female C57BL/6J mice were employed in the BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis model and were divided into four groups: Group 1 (Sham): animals were kept without BLM and treatment, Group 2 (Control): BLM with vehicle DMEM, Group 3: 10 μg/kg CM-ADSCs and Group 4: 100 μg/kg CM-ADSCs. Body weight, fibrosis and inflammation histological analyses, mRNA and protein pro-inflammatory cytokine, and total hydroxyproline content calculation were performed in all groups upon sacrifice. The 100 μg/kg CM-ADSCs showed a significant increase in mean body weight compared to Controls. CM-ADSCs doses resulted in the amelioration of fibrosis, as seen by Masson's Trichrome-staining, Ashcroft scoring, and Sirius red-staining. Compared to Controls, inflammation was also significantly reduced in CM-ADSCs-treated mice, with reduced F4/80 macrophage antigen staining, TNF-α mRNA and IL-6 and IL-10 protein levels. Total hydroxyproline content was found significantly reduced in both groups of CM-ADSCs-treated mice. Overall, our study shows that the CM-ADSCs is safe and efficient against pulmonary fibrosis, as it significantly reduced inflammation and fibrosis, with the larger dose of 100 μg/kg CM-ADSCs being the most efficient one.