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Encapsulated mesenchymal stem cells for in vivo immunomodulation

Leukemia volume 27, pages 500–503 (2013)Cite this article

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Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are self-renewable, multipotent progenitor cells able to differentiate into various mesodermal lineages.1 MSCs are present in basically all tissues, and have a pivotal role in tissue repair and in local control of inflammation.

In vitro studies indicated that MSCs have immunomodulatory activities: they inhibit T and NK cell activation, B-cell terminal differentiation and dendritic cell maturation and functions.2 Little is known about the action of MSCs in vivo but a recent report showed that MSCs affect dendritic cell homing to lymph nodes, thus impairing T-cell priming.3 Although there is evidence from in vivo studies that MSCs are able to reduce inflammatory damage without engraftment,4 it is not clear whether their immunomodulatory effects rely on soluble mediators or cell–cell contacts (reviewed in Yagi et al.2).

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Acknowledgements

We thank Marta Lezama for assistance and Alberto Mantovani for helpful discussions and critical reading of the paper. This work has been supported by grants from Associazione Italiana Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC, ‘Lombardia Molecular Imaging’), Ministero della Salute (Bando cellule staminali, Bando Giovani Ricercatori) and European Community 7th Framework Programme (TIMER project). We would like to thank ‘Fondazione Matilde Tettamanti’, ‘Comitato Maria Letizia Verga’, ‘Comitato Stefano Verri’, ‘Fondazione MBBM’ and CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brazil) for their support. AS was supported by Inserm, France and Fondazione Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombarde (grant 5808/2007). MC was supported by a fellowship from European Community 6th Framework Programme INNOCHEM project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Rozzano, Italy

    L Zanotti, A Sarukhan, J Cibella, C Soldani, A E Trovato, C Ploia, M Locati & A Viola

  2. INSERM, Paris, France

    A Sarukhan

  3. Centro Ricerca ‘M. Tettamanti,’ Clinica Pediatrica Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Monza, Italy

    E Dander, A Biondi & G D'Amico

  4. Departamento de Morfologia, Laboratório de Imunofarmacologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    M Castor

  5. Department of Experimental Medicine and Biochemical Sciences, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

    G Luca, M Calvitti, F Mancuso & I Arato

  6. Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia

    M Golemac

  7. Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia

    N Jonjic

  8. Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Internal Medicine and Endocrine and Metabolic Sciences, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

    R Calafiore

  9. Department of Medical Biotechnologies and Translational Medicine, University of Milan, Rozzano, Italy

    M Locati & A Viola

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  1. L Zanotti
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  2. A Sarukhan
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  9. G Luca
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  10. M Calvitti
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  15. A Biondi
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  16. R Calafiore
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  17. M Locati
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  18. G D'Amico
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  19. A Viola
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to L Zanotti.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Zanotti, L., Sarukhan, A., Dander, E. et al. Encapsulated mesenchymal stem cells for in vivo immunomodulation. Leukemia 27, 500–503 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2012.202

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