MSCohi-O lenses for long-term retention of mesenchymal stem cells on ocular surface as a therapeutic approach for chronic ocular graft-versus-host disease

• Published in: Stem cell reports Vol. 18; no. 12; pp. 2356 - 2369
• Main Authors: Liu, Yuanyue, Song, Siqi, Liu, Youyu, Fu, Ting, Guo, Yanzheng, Liu, Ruoqing, Chen, Jiexing, Lin, Yanchun, Cheng, Yaqi, Li, Yun, Guan, Tian, Ling, Shiqi, Zeng, Haoyu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 12.12.2023; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Eye; Graft vs Host Disease - drug therapy; Graft vs Host Disease - therapy; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation - adverse effects; immunoregulatory; Mesenchymal Stem Cells; Models, Animal; ocular surface; oGVHD; UCMSCs; immunoregulatory; UCMSCs; oGVHD; ocular surface
• ISSN: 2213-6711; 2213-6711
• DOI: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2023.10.010

Chronic ocular graft-versus-host disease (oGVHD) is a common complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) and can lead to vision loss if not diagnosed and treated promptly. Currently, no approved drugs exist for oGVHD treatment. However, umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UCMSCs) have known immunoregulatory properties and have been employed in clinical trials for immune-mediated diseases. To address oGVHD, the application of UCMSCs to the ocular surface is a logical approach. Intravenous administration of UCMSCs poses risks, necessitating topical and local delivery. Retaining UCMSCs on the ocular surface remains a challenge. To overcome this, we invented mesenchymal stem cell-coating high oxygen-permeable hydrogel lenses combining UCMSCs and machinery to enable the long-term retention of UCMSCs on the ocular surface. Animal model experiments demonstrated that these lenses effectively retained UCMSCs, providing therapeutic benefits by decreasing corneal inflammation and damage, and inhibiting immune rejection and response, all crucial aspects in oGVHD treatment. •A novel combination of umbilical UCMSCs and high oxygen-permeable hydrogel lenses•A non-invasive therapy to protect corneal from oGVHD•Enable long-term retention of UCMSCs on ocular surface for immunoregulation•Use animal corneal transplantation model to mimic rejection in clinical oGVHD This study described MSCohi-O lenses, a novel combination of UCMSCs and high oxygen-permeable hydrogel lenses, to enable long-term retention of UCMSCs on ocular surface to exert immunoregulatory effects and etiologically treat corneal inflammation and damage caused by immune-related ocular diseases such as chronic oGVHD.