The following article is interesting from a few perspectives. Firstly, they used human mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs) from adipose tissue (adipose tissue contains a much larger number of MSCs per gram of tissue than bone marrow) in animals that were not immunosupressed. Of course Osiris and others have been doing clinical trials using allogenic MSCs from bone marrow with just a small dose of prednisone used to prevent flu-like symptoms. Secondly, these cells are transgenic as well and were found to be effective in this mouse model of lupus. The third point is that they gave a total of 28 doses and there were no side effects.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21904997
Arthritis Rheum. 2011 Sep 8. doi: 10.1002/art.33313. [Epub ahead of print]
Reversal of serological, immunological and histological dysfunction in systemic lupus erythematosus mice by long-term serial adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cell transplantation.
Choi EW, Shin IS, Park SY, Park JH, Kim JS, Yoon EJ, Kang SK, Ra JC, Hong SH.
Source
Laboratory Animal Research Center, Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, 50 Irwon-dong Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-710, Republic of Korea. vet.cew@gmail.com, http://sbri.or.kr/larc/
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystemic autoimmune disease. In this study, the efficacy of human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cell (hATMSC) transplantation in SLE was investigated and the optimal transplantation window of stem cells was determined either before or after disease onset.
METHODS:
Half a million hATMSCs were administered intravenously every 2 weeks from 6 weeks until 60 weeks of age in SLE mice (NZB/W F1) while the control group received saline vehicle on the same schedule. Another experiment was carried out with a different initiation time point of serial transplantation of 6 weeks or 32 weeks of age.
RESULTS:
Long-term serial administration (total 28 times) of hATMSCs ameliorated SLE without any adverse effects. The hATMSC group showed significantly higher survival rate with improvement of histological and serological abnormalities and immunological function and decreased the incidence of proteinuria compared with the control group. Anti-dsDNA antibodies and blood urea nitrogen decreased significantly and serum levels of GM-CSF, IL-4 and IL-10 increased significantly by transplantation of hATMSCs. In spleen, significant increase of proportion of CD4+Foxp3+ cells and a marked restoration of capacity for cytokine production was observed in the hATMSC group. In a comparison between the early-stage and advanced-stage treatment groups, the early-stage treatment group showed better results (higher survival rates and less proteinuria incidence) than the advanced-stage treatment group.
CONCLUSION:
Serial hATMSC transplantation showed beneficial effects for SLE treatment without adverse effect. Transplantation of hATMSCs before disease onset was preferable for amelioration of SLE and restoration of immune homeostasis.
Copyright © 2011 by the American College of Rheumatology.
PMID:
21904997
[PubMed – as supplied by publisher]
Neil Riordan 9-29-2011
www.neilriordan.net