Functional, molecular and proteomic characterisation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in rheumatoid arthritis

• Published in: Annals of the rheumatic diseases Vol. 67; no. 6; pp. 741 - 749
• Main Authors: Kastrinaki, M-C, Sidiropoulos, P, Roche, S, Ringe, J, Lehmann, S, Kritikos, H, Vlahava, V-M, Delorme, B, Eliopoulos, G D, Jorgensen, C, Charbord, P, Häupl, T, Boumpas, D T, Papadaki, H A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and European League Against Rheumatism 01.06.2008; BMJ; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Publishing Group
• Subjects: Adult; Age; Aged; Analysis of Variance; Arthritis, Rheumatoid - immunology; Arthritis, Rheumatoid - pathology; Biochemistry, Molecular Biology; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Bone marrow; Bone Marrow Cells - immunology; Bone Marrow Cells - pathology; Case-Control Studies; Cell cycle; Cell Differentiation; Cell Proliferation; Cell Survival; Cells, Cultured; Cellular Biology; Clone Cells; Cytokines; Cytokines - genetics; Cytokines - immunology; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Female; Gangrene; Gene Expression; Gene Expression Profiling; Genomics; Humans; Immunophenotyping; Inflammatory joint diseases; Life Sciences; Male; Medical sciences; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells - immunology; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells - pathology; Middle Aged; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Patients; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Rheumatoid arthritis; Stem cells; Subcellular Processes; Telomere - ultrastructure; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Immunopathology; Chronic; Stem cell; Rheumatoid arthritis; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Rheumatology; Bone marrow; Autoimmune disease; Inflammatory joint disease; Mesenchymal cell; Mesenchymal Stem Cell; Cytokine; Proteomics; 2D-PAGE; Gene expression; Mass spectrometry
• DOI: 10.1136/ard.2007.076174
• ISSN: 0003-4967

Objective:Bone marrow (BM) mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are being considered as potential therapeutic agents in various inflammatory autoimmune diseases for their tissue-repair and anti-inflammatory tissue-protective properties. This study investigates the reserves and function, the molecular and proteomic profile and the differentiation potential of BM MSCs in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods:We evaluated the frequency of MSCs in the BM mononuclear cell fraction using a limiting dilution assay, the proliferative/clonogenic potential and the capacity of cells to differentiate towards the osteogenic/chondrogenic/adipogenic lineages using appropriate culture conditions. We also assessed the molecular and proteomic characteristics in terms of inflammatory cytokine gene and protein expression, the relative telomere length and the survival characteristics of BM MSCs.Results:MSCs from patients with RA (n = 26) and age- and sex-matched healthy individuals (n = 21) were similar in frequency, differentiation potential, survival, immunophenotypic characteristics, and protein profile. Patient MSCs, however, had impaired clonogenic and proliferative potential in association with premature telomere length loss. Transcriptome analysis revealed differential expression of genes related to cell adhesion processes and cell cycle progression beyond the G1 phase. Previous treatment with methotrexate, corticosteroids, anti-cytokine and biological agents or other disease-modifying anti-inflammatory drugs did not correlate with the clonogenic and proliferative impairment of BM MSCs.Conclusion:In spite of some restrictions related to the impaired clonogenic and proliferative potential, our findings support the use of autologous BM MSCs in RA and may have important implications for the ongoing efforts to repair tissue injury commonly seen in the course of the disease.