Expression of HLA and mixed lymphocyte reaction of mesenchymal stem cells derived from human umbilical cord blood

Abstract

In recent years, the mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) derived from various tissues have been widely tested for developing cell therapies, tissue repair and transplantation. Although there has been much interest in the immunomodulatory properties of MSC and their immunologic reactions following autologous, allogeneic and xenogenic transplantation of MSC in vivo, up to date, the expression of immunogenic markers, such as class I and II human leukocyte antigens (HLA), after differentiation of human umbilical cord blood (hUCB)-derived MSC has been poorly investigated and require extensive in vitro and in vivo testing. In this experiment, the expression of the HLA-ABC and HLA-DR on hUCB-derived MSC have been tested by immunocytochemical staining. The undifferentiated MSC were moderately stained for HLA-ABC but very weakly for HLA-DR. In order to investigate the inhibitory effect of allogeneic lymphocytes on proliferation of MSC, the MSC were cultured in the presence or absence of peripheral allogeneic lymphocytes stimulated with concanavalin A. The allogeneic lymphocytes did not significantly inhibit MSC proliferation. We conclude that hUCB-MSC expressed moderately class I HLA antigen while almost negatively class II HLA antigen. The MSC have an immunomodulatory effect which can suppress the allogeneic response of lymphocytes. These in vitro data suggest that allogeneic MSC derived from cord blood can be useful candidate for allogeneic cell therapy and transplantation without a major risk of rejection.