The use of stem cells in treating inflammatory diseases

Inflammation is the first-line defense mechanism in against pathogen infection. It is an important part for innate immunity. Various pathogens can trigger inflammation through the interaction with toll-like receptors, which recognizes the pathogen-associated molecular pattern molecules (PAMPs). Some diseases such as alcoholic hepatitis, asthma, and multiple sclerosis are associated with acute or long-term chronic inflammation. Furthermore, some pathogens may result in serious inflammation responses, which sometimes cause death in infected patients. The therapeutic approaches in treating inflammation-related pathologies nowadays rely on the administration corticosteroid or non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which may lead deleterious side effects. Therefore, the search of noval therapeutic methods is of great benefit for patients with inflammatory diseases. Stem cells are progenitors with differentiation capabilities and thus are promising materials for regenerative medicine. Recent studies demonstrated stem cells possess immunomodulatory effects in inhibiting immune responses. Immune cells co-cultivated with stem cells lost their abilities in initiating immune responses. Animal experiments demonstrated that engraftment of stem cells result in significant inhibition on animal’s immunity. Our preliminary results suggested that stem cell conditioned medium exert significantly inhibition in IL-1secretion. IL-1is a proinflammatoy cytokine which is produced by macrophages and other types of cells during inflammation. Furthermore, the blockage of IL-1results in therapeutic effects in several inflammatory disease models. Therefore, we will investigate the effect of stem cells in IL-1secretion inhibition. The specific aims of this study include the comparison of inhibitory effects caused by different types of stem cell; the elucidation of the associated mechanisms; the search of factors contribute to this inhibitory effect; and the investigation of the inhibitory effects in animal models.

Project ID:PC10202-0692
External Project ID:NSC101-2320-B182-026-MY3