Cell therapy without cells
How stem cells treat the heart
Stemcells.RuThe effectiveness of cellular therapy of cardiovascular diseases is well documented by the results of both laboratory experiments and clinical trials.
However, the mechanisms of action of transplanted cells still remain insufficiently studied.
Recently, a group of American scientists from the University of Buffalo in animal experiments demonstrated the effectiveness of a new method of treating heart failure using intramuscular injections of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) or their conditioned environment (the environment in which MSCs were cultured). The results of these studies suggest that the effect of cell therapy is mediated through many different trophic factors secreted by stem cells. At the same time, the "stemness" of cells and their further differentiation does not seem to matter much.
The next work of this group was devoted to identifying the factors that have the greatest therapeutic effect. It is known that human MSCs produce 5 times less vascular endothelial growth factor (vascular endothelial growth factor – VEGF) than porcine MSCs. Accordingly, the therapeutic effect of the medium conditioned with human MSCs was significantly lower than the medium in which pig MSCs were cultivated. But the environment conditioned by genetically modified human MSCs expressing increased levels of VEGF had correspondingly greater therapeutic effect.
Thus, experiments have shown that VEGF is a key trophic factor mediating the stimulation of myocardial regeneration during MSCS cell therapy. This discovery makes it possible to use not stem cells for treatment, but individual growth factors, primarily VEGF, which will avoid many unresolved problems of cell therapy (for example, the danger of cancer degeneration of transplanted cells), while maintaining its effectiveness.
The research materials are presented in the article by Zisa D. et al. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) as a key therapeutic trophic factor in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell-mediated cardiac repair. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2009 Oct 15. [Epub ahead of print]
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28.10.2009