Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells enhance engraftment, vasculogenic and pro-angiogenic activities of endothelial colony forming cells in immunocompetent hosts

Sci Rep. 2017 Oct 19;7(1):13558. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-13971-3.

Abstract

The clinical use of endothelial colony forming cells (ECFC) is hampered by their restricted engraftment. We aimed to assess engraftment, vasculogenic and pro-angiogenic activities of ECFC in immunocompetent (C57BL/6: WT) or immunodeficient (rag1 -/- C57BL/6: Rag1) mice. In addition, the impact of host immune system was investigated where ECFC were co-implanted with mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) from adult bone marrow (AdBM-MSC), fetal bone marrow (fBM-MSC), fetal placental (fPL-MSC), or maternal placental (MPL-MSC). Transplantation of ECFCs in Matrigel plugs resulted in less cell engraftment in WT mice compared to Rag1 mice. Co-implantation with different MSCs resulted in a significant increase in cell engraftment up to 9 fold in WT mice reaching levels of engraftment observed when using ECFCs alone in Rag1 mice but well below levels of engraftment with MSC-ECFC combination in Rag1 recipients. Furthermore, MSCs did not reduce murine splenic T cell proliferation in response to ECFCs in vitro. ECFCs enhanced the murine neo-vascularization through paracrine effect, but with no difference between Rag1 and WT mice. In conclusions, the host adaptive immune system affects the engraftment of ECFCs. MSC co-implantation improves ECFC engraftment and function even in immunocompetent hosts mostly through non-immune mechanisms.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bone Marrow Cells / cytology
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Endothelial Cells / cytology
  • Endothelial Cells / metabolism
  • Endothelial Cells / transplantation*
  • Female
  • Homeodomain Proteins / metabolism
  • Immune System / metabolism
  • Immunocompromised Host
  • Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation*
  • Mesenchymal Stem Cells / cytology*
  • Mesenchymal Stem Cells / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Neovascularization, Physiologic*
  • Paracrine Communication
  • Placenta / cytology
  • Pregnancy
  • T-Lymphocytes / cytology
  • T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • T-Lymphocytes / metabolism

Substances

  • Homeodomain Proteins
  • RAG-1 protein