Immunomodulatory function of licensed human bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cell-derived apoptotic bodies

Jiemin Wang; Ellen Donohoe; Aoife Canning; Seyedmohammad Moosavizadeh; Fiona Buckley; Meadhbh Á Brennan; Aideen E Ryan; Thomas Ritter

doi:10.1016/j.intimp.2023.111096

Immunomodulatory function of licensed human bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cell-derived apoptotic bodies

Int Immunopharmacol. 2023 Dec;125(Pt A):111096. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2023.111096. Epub 2023 Oct 23.

Authors

Jiemin Wang¹, Ellen Donohoe¹, Aoife Canning¹, Seyedmohammad Moosavizadeh², Fiona Buckley³, Meadhbh Á Brennan², Aideen E Ryan⁴, Thomas Ritter⁵

Affiliations

¹ Regenerative Medicine Institute, School of Medicine, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland.
² Regenerative Medicine Institute, School of Medicine, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland; CURAM Centre for Research in Medical Devices, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland.
³ Regenerative Medicine Institute, School of Medicine, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland; Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland.
⁴ Regenerative Medicine Institute, School of Medicine, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland; CURAM Centre for Research in Medical Devices, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland; Discipline of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, School of Medicine, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland.
⁵ Regenerative Medicine Institute, School of Medicine, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland; CURAM Centre for Research in Medical Devices, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland. Electronic address: thomas.ritter@universityofgalway.ie.

PMID: 37871378
DOI: 10.1016/j.intimp.2023.111096

Abstract

Background: Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) show great potential for immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory treatments. Clinical trials have been performed for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes, graft-versus-host disease and organ transplantation, which offer a promise of MSCs as an immunomodulatory therapy. Nevertheless, their unstable efficacy and immunogenicity concerns present challenges to clinical translation. It has emerged that the MSC-derived secretome, which includes secreted proteins, exosomes, apoptotic bodies (ABs) and other macromolecules, may have similar therapeutic effects to parent MSCs. Among all of the components of the MSC-derived secretome, most interest thus far has been garnered by exosomes for their therapeutic potential. However, since MSCs were reported to undergo apoptosis after in vivo transplantation and release ABs, we speculated as to whether ABs have immunomodulatory effects. In this study, cytokine licensing was used to enhance the immunomodulatory potency of MSCs and ABs derived from licensed MSCs in vitro were isolated to explore their immunomodulatory effects as an effective non-viable cell therapy.

Results: IFN-γ and IFN-γ/TGF-β1 licensing enhanced the immunomodulatory effect of MSCs on T cell proliferation. Further, TGF-β1 and IFN-γ licensing strengthened the immunomodulatory effect of MSC on reducing the TNF-α and IL-1β expression by M1 macrophage-like THP-1 cells. Additionally, we discovered the immunomodulatory effect mediated by MSC-derived apoptotic bodies. Licensing impacted the uptake of ABs by recipient immune cells and importantly altered their phenotypes.

Conclusion: ABs derived from IFN-γ/TGF-β1-licensed apoptotic MSCs significantly inhibited T cell proliferation, induced more regulatory T cells, and maintained immunomodulatory T cells but reduced pro-inflammatory T cells.

Keywords: Apoptotic body; Extracellular vesicle; IFN-γ; Immunomodulation; Licensing; Mesenchymal stromal cells; Potency; TGF-β1.

MeSH terms

Bone Marrow
Cells, Cultured
Exosomes* / metabolism
Humans
Immunomodulation
Mesenchymal Stem Cells* / metabolism
Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / metabolism

Substances

Transforming Growth Factor beta1