Prevention of acute liver allograft rejection by IL-10-engineered mesenchymal stem cells

• DOI: 10.1111/cei.12283
• Publication Date: 2014-02-17T11:21:45Z
• Authors: J Niu; W Yue; Y Song; Y Zhang; X Qi; Z Wang; B Liu; H Shen; X Hu
• Keywords: Graft Rejection; Male; 0301 basic medicine; Graft Survival; Interleukin-17; Antibodies, Monoclonal; Gene Expression; Forkhead Transcription Factors; Mesenchymal Stem Cells; Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 1, Group F, Member 3; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory; Interleukin-10; Liver Transplantation; Rats; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; Liver; T-Lymphocyte Subsets; Transduction, Genetic; Animals; Cytokines; Humans; Th17 Cells

Summary Hepatic allograft rejection remains a challenging problem, with acute rejection episode as the major barrier for long-term survival in liver transplant recipients. To explore a strategy to prevent allograft rejection, we hypothesized that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) genetically engineered with interleukin-10 (IL-10) could produce beneficial effects on orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) in the experimental rat model. Syngeneic MSCs transduced with IL-10 were delivered via the right jugular vein 30 min post-orthotopic transplantation in the rat model. To evaluate liver morphology and measure cytokine concentration, the blood and liver samples from each animal group were collected at different time-points (3, 5 and 7 days) post-transplantation. The mean survival time of the rats treated with MSCs–IL-10 was shown to be much longer than those treated with saline. According to Banff scheme grading, the saline group scores increased significantly compared with those in the MSCs–IL-10 group. Retinoid acid receptor-related orphan receptor gamma t (RORγt) expression was more increased in the saline group compared to those in the MSCs–IL-10 group in a time-dependent manner; forkhead box protein 3 (FoxP3) expression also decreased significantly in the saline group compared with those in the MSCs–IL-10 group in a time-dependent manner. The expression of cytokines [IL-17, IL-23, IL-6, interferon (IFN)-γ and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α] in the saline groups increased significantly compared with the time-point-matched MSCs–IL-10 group, whereas cytokine expression of (IL-10, TGF-β1) was deceased markedly compared to that in the MSCs–IL-10 group. These results suggest a potential role for IL-10-engineered MSC therapy to overcome clinical liver transplantation rejection.