In Vitro Conditioning of Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells by the Endothelial Microenvironment: Modeling Cell Responsiveness towards Non-Genetic Correction of Haemophilia A

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 23; no. 13; p. 7282
• Main Authors: Barbon, Silvia, Stocco, Elena, Rajendran, Senthilkumar, Zardo, Lorena, Macchi, Veronica, Grandi, Claudio, Tagariello, Giuseppe, Porzionato, Andrea, Radossi, Paolo, De Caro, Raffaele, Parnigotto, Pier Paolo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-07-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: adipose-derived stem cells; Bone marrow; Cadherin; CD34 antigen; Cell adhesion & migration; Cell culture; Cell therapy; Coagulation; Coagulation factor VIII; Coagulation factors; Conditioning; Culture media; endothelial differentiation; Epidermal growth factor; Flow cytometry; Gene expression; Genetic disorders; Genetic engineering; Growth factors; Haemophilia A; Hemophilia; Insulin-like growth factors; Mesenchymal stem cells; Microenvironments; Morphology; Proteins; regenerative medicine; stem cell therapy; Stem cells; Stimulation; Thromboplastin; Transfection; Vascular endothelial growth factor
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms23137282

In recent decades, the use of adult multipotent stem cells has paved the way for the identification of new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of monogenic diseases such as Haemophilia A. Being already studied for regenerative purposes, adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (Ad-MSCs) are still poorly considered for Haemophilia A cell therapy and their capacity to produce coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) after proper stimulation and without resorting to gene transfection. In this work, Ad-MSCs were in vitro conditioned towards the endothelial lineage, considered to be responsible for coagulation factor production. The cells were cultured in an inductive medium enriched with endothelial growth factors for up to 21 days. In addition to significantly responding to the chemotactic endothelial stimuli, the cell populations started to form capillary-like structures and up-regulated the expression of specific endothelial markers (CD34, PDGFRα, VEGFR2, VE-cadherin, CD31, and vWF). A dot blot protein study detected the presence of FVIII in culture media collected from both unstimulated and stimulated Ad-MSCs. Remarkably, the activated partial thromboplastin time test demonstrated that the clot formation was accelerated, and FVIII activity was enhanced when FVIII deficient plasma was mixed with culture media from the untreated/stimulated Ad-MSCs. Overall, the collected evidence supported a possible Ad-MSC contribution to HA correction via specific stimulation by the endothelial microenvironment and without any need for gene transfection.