Potential of mesenchymal- and cardiac progenitor cells for therapeutic targeting of B-cells and antibody responses in end-stage heart failure

PLoS One. 2019 Dec 31;14(12):e0227283. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227283. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Upon myocardial damage, the release of cardiac proteins induces a strong antibody-mediated immune response, which can lead to adverse cardiac remodeling and eventually heart failure (HF). Stem cell therapy using mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) or cardiomyocyte progenitor cells (CPCs) previously showed beneficial effects on cardiac function despite low engraftment in the heart. Paracrine mediators are likely of great importance, where, for example, MSC-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) also show immunosuppressive properties in vitro. However, the limited capacity of MSCs to differentiate into cardiac cells and the sufficient scaling of MSC-derived EVs remain a challenge to clinical translation. Therefore, we investigated the immunosuppressive actions of endogenous CPCs and CPC-derived EVs on antibody production in vitro, using both healthy controls and end-stage HF patients. Both MSCs and CPCs strongly inhibit lymphocyte proliferation and antibody production in vitro. Furthermore, CPC-derived EVs significantly lowered the levels of IgG1, IgG4, and IgM, especially when administered for longer duration. In line with previous findings, plasma cells of end-stage HF patients showed high production of IgG3, which can be inhibited by MSCs in vitro. MSCs and CPCs inhibit in vitro antibody production of both healthy and end-stage HF-derived immune cells. CPC-derived paracrine factors, such as EVs, show similar effects, but do not provide the complete immunosuppressive capacity of CPCs. The strongest immunosuppressive effects were observed using MSCs, suggesting that MSCs might be the best candidates for therapeutic targeting of B-cell responses in HF.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • B-Lymphocytes / cytology
  • B-Lymphocytes / immunology*
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Extracellular Vesicles / immunology
  • Heart Failure / immunology
  • Heart Failure / therapy*
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin G / immunology*
  • Immunoglobulin M / immunology*
  • Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation*
  • Myoblasts, Cardiac / transplantation*

Substances

  • Immunoglobulin G
  • Immunoglobulin M

Grants and funding

This work was supported by CVON2011-12 HUSTCare grant from the Netherlands CardioVascular Research Initiative (CVON): The Dutch Heart Foundation, Dutch Federation of University Medical Centers, the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Science, the ZonMW Translational Adult Stem Cell grant 1161002016, and by Horizon2020 ERC-2016-COG EVICARE (725229). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.