The underlying mechanisms of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) on immune modulation to treat allergic diseases remain unclear. Here, we showed that the suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) is an important immune modulator expressed by MSCs, which is significantly increased by interferon-γ (IFN-γ). In addition, we observed that SOCS3 is a crucial mediator of the anti-proliferative and functional effects of MSCs on T cells and B cells. The immune modulation of MSCs through SOCS3 is mediated by cell-cell contacts. Moreover, SOCS3 could serve as an indicator to predict the potential immune modulatory of MSCs derived from different donors. Furthermore, treatment with anti-SOCS3 Ab significantly decreased ovalbumin-specific antibodies and neutrophil infiltration in ovalbumin-induced allergic rhinitis (AR) mice. Our results suggest that SOCS3 serves as an immune modulator interfering with T cells and B cells, and SOCS3 may act as a predictive marker for immune modulatory of MSCs.
Keywords: SOCS3; immune modulatory; interferon-γ; mesenchymal stromal cells.