Human decidual mesenchymal stem cells obtained from early pregnancy attenuate bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis by inhibiting inflammation and apoptosis

Abstract

Abstract Background Decidual mesenchymal stem cells (DMSCs) are easily obtained and exhibit strong anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects. Compared with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs), their role in cell transplantation after idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis remains unclear. Methods BMSCs and DMSCs were derived from healthy donors. The anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects on both cell types were evaluated in vitro. The function of DMSCs in MLE-12 cells and mouse lung fibroblasts was examined using additional transwell coculture experiments in vitro. We investigated whether the transplantation of BMSCs and DMSCs could alleviate pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis in a bleomycin-induced mouse model of pulmonary fibrosis. Twenty-one days after MSC transplantation, we examined the inflammatory factors in the serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, collagen content, pathology, fibrotic area, lung function, and micro-computed tomography of the lung tissue. Results DMSCs exhibited better anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects than BMSCs on MLE-12 cells in vitro. In addition, DMSCs inhibited tumor growth factor β-dependent epithelial-mesenchymal transition in MLE-12 cells and attenuated mouse lung fibroblasts fibrosis. Furthermore, transplantation of DMSCs in the mouse idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis model significantly attenuated pulmonary inflammation and lung fibrosis compared with BMSCs transplantation. Conclusions DMSCs exhibited better efficacy in improving pulmonary inflammation and lung fibrosis than BMSCs. Thus, DMSCs are a potential therapeutic target for pulmonary fibrosis.