Mesenchymal stem cells restore lung function by recruiting resident and non-resident proteins

Cell Transplant. 2011 Mar 7. [Epub ahead of print]
Mesenchymal stem cells restore lung function by recruiting resident and non-resident proteins.
Jungebluth P, Luedde M, Ferrer E, Luedde T, Vucur M, Peinado VI, Go T, Schreiber C, Richthofen MV, Bader A, Haag J, Darsow KH, Bartel SJ, Lange HA, Furlani D, Steinhoff G, Macchiarini P.
Abstract
Since human lungs are unlikely to repair or regenerate beyond the cellular level, cell therapy has not previously been considered for chronic irreversible obstructive lung diseases. To explore whether cell therapy can restore lung function, we administered allogenic intratracheal mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) in the trachea of rats with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), a disease characterized by single or recurrent pulmonary thromboembolic obliteration and progressive pulmonary vascular remodeling. MSCs were retrieved only in high pressure-exposed lungs recruited via a homing stromal derived factor-1 alpha/CXCR4 pathway. After MSC administration, a marked and long-lasting improvement of all clinical parameters and a significant change of the proteome level were detected. Beside a variation of liver proteome, such as Caspase-3, NF- 〈B, Collagen1A1 and 〈-SMA, we also identified more than 300 resident and nonresident lung proteins, e.g. myosin light chain 3 (P16409) or mitochondrial ATP synthase subunit alpha (P15999). These results suggest that cell therapy restores lung function and the therapeutic effects of MSCs may be related to protein-based tissue reconstituting effects.
PMID: 21396162 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]