Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Based Immunomodulation in Allogeneic Heterotopic Heart-Lung Transplantation

Mesenchymal stem cells are able to differentiate in various cell lineages and they have shown immunomodulatory properties in vitro, altering the cytokine secretion profile of T helper, T effector and dendritic cells and stimulating natural killer cells towards an anti-inflammatory and tolerant phenotype. In vivo they prolong skin allograft survival and may decrease graft-versus-host disease after hematopoietic stem cell transplants. In this work we studied the effects of mesenchymal stem cell treatment in an allogeneic heterotopic heart-lung transplant model. The following experimental groups were formed: A) Control B) Immunosuppressive therapy (Cyclosporine A) C) Mesenchymal stem-cell intravenous infusion D) Mesenchymal stem-cell infusion plus immunosuppressive treatment. The infusion of mesenchymal stem cells improved the mean graft survival up to 14.5±3.7 days with respect to the control group (3±0.6 days). Treatment with Cyclosporine A plus mesenchymal stem cells (group D) produced a mean survival time of 18.25±4.9 days, and was not significantly different to the results for group B (21.75±3.5 days). Furthermore, in the immunosuppressive treatment and the mesenchymal stem cell treatment, histological analysis revealed a reduction in the grade of rejection in heart and lung grafts. This decrease was most significant in group D. In conclusion, mesenchymal stem cells alone or in combination with Cyclosporine A were able to prolong graft survival time. These data suggest that, in vivo, mesenchymal stem cells retain their ability, already shown in vitro, to suppress lymphocyte activation and proliferation. *Corresponding author: Prof. Longoni Biancamaria, MD, PhD, Department of Oncology, Transplantation and Advanced Technology in Medicine, University of Pisa, Via Paradisa 2, 56124, Pisa, Italy, Tel: +39050996918; Fax: +39050543692; E-mail: [email protected] Received October 08, 2011; Accepted December 12, 2011; Published December 17, 2011 Citation: Longoni B, Szilàgyi E, Puviani L, Mazzanti B, Paoli GT, et al. (2012) Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Based Immunomodulation in Allogeneic Heterotopic Heart-Lung Transplantation. J Transplant Technol Res 2:107. doi:10.4172/21610991.1000107 Copyright: © 2012 Longoni B, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.