CD106 identifies a subpopulation of mesenchymal stem cells with unique immunomodulatory properties

• Published in: PloS one 2013-03, Vol.8 (3), p.e59354-e59354
• Main Authors: Yang, Zhou Xin, Han, Zhi-Bo, Ji, Yue Ru, Wang, You Wei, Liang, Lu, Chi, Ying, Yang, Shao Guang, Li, Li Na, Luo, Wei Feng, Li, Jian Ping, Chen, Dan Dan, Du, Wen Jing, Cao, Xiao Cang, Zhuo, Guang Sheng, Wang, Tao, Han, Zhong Chao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adipocytes - cytology; Adipocytes - immunology; Adipose Tissue - cytology; Adipose Tissue - immunology; Adult; B cells; Biocompatibility; Biological properties; Biology; Biomarkers - metabolism; Biomedical materials; Blood diseases; Bone marrow; Bone Marrow Cells - cytology; Bone Marrow Cells - immunology; Cell adhesion & migration; Cell Differentiation; Cell self-renewal; Chorion - cytology; Chorion - immunology; Cytokines; Cytokines - biosynthesis; Cytokines - immunology; Dendritic cells; Differentiation; Engineering research; Female; Gene Expression; Hematology; Hospitals; Humans; Immunomodulation; Immunoregulation; Immunosuppressive agents; Laboratories; Mathematics; Mesenchymal stem cells; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells - classification; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells - cytology; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells - immunology; Mesenchyme; Osteocytes - cytology; Osteocytes - immunology; Placenta; Pregnancy; Rodents; Stem cells; Subpopulations; T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer - cytology; T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer - immunology; Tissues; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Umbilical cord; Umbilical Cord - cytology; Umbilical Cord - immunology; Vascular cell adhesion molecule 1; Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 - genetics; Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 - immunology
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059354

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) reside in almost all of the body tissues, where they undergo self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation. MSCs derived from different tissues share many similarities but also show some differences in term of biological properties. We aim to search for significant differences among various sources of MSCs and to explore their implications in physiopathology and clinical translation. We compared the phenotype and biological properties among different MSCs isolated from human term placental chorionic villi (CV), umbilical cord (UC), adult bone marrow (BM) and adipose (AD). We found that CD106 (VCAM-1) was expressed highest on the CV-MSCs, moderately on BM-MSCs, lightly on UC-MSCs and absent on AD-MSCs. CV-MSCs also showed unique immune-associated gene expression and immunomodulation. We thus separated CD106(+)cells and CD106(-)cells from CV-MSCs and compared their biological activities. Both two subpopulations were capable of osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation while CD106(+)CV-MSCs were more effective to modulate T helper subsets but possessed decreased colony formation capacity. In addition, CD106(+)CV-MSCs expressed more cytokines than CD106(-)CV-MSCs. These data demonstrate that CD106 identifies a subpopulation of CV-MSCs with unique immunoregulatory activity and reveal a previously unrecognized mechanism underlying immunomodulation of MSCs.