The Human Umbilical Cord Tissue-Derived MSC Population UCX® Promotes Early Motogenic Effects on Keratinocytes and Fibroblasts and G-CSF-Mediated Mobilization of BM-MSCs when Transplanted In Vivo

Abstract

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) play an important role in tissue regeneration mainly through the secretion of trophic factors that enhance the repair of damaged tissues. The main goal of this work was to study the paracrine mechanisms by which an umbilical cord tissue-derived MSC population (UCX®) promotes the migration capacity of human dermal fibroblasts and keratinocytes, which is highly relevant for skin regeneration. Furthermore, the differences between paracrine activities of MSCs from the umbilical cord tissue and the bone marrow (BM-MSCs) were also evaluated. In vitro scratch assays revealed that conditioned media (CM) obtained from both growing and stationary-phase UCX® cultures induced human dermal fibroblast (HDF) and keratinocyte (HaCaT) migration. These assays showed that the motogenic activity of UCX® CM to HaCaTs was significantly higher than to HDFs, in opposition to the effect seen with CM produced by BM-MSCs that preferentially induced HDF migration. Accordingly, a comparative quantification of key factors with vital importance in the consecutive stages of wound healing revealed very different secretome profiles between UCX® and BM-MSCs. The relatively higher UCX® expression of EGF, FGF-2, and KGF strongly supports early induction of keratinocyte migration and function, whereas the UCX®-specific expression of G-CSF suggested additional roles in mobilization of healing-related cells including CD34-/CD45- precursors (MSCs) known to be involved in tissue regeneration. Accordingly, in vitro chemotaxis assays and an in vivo transplantation model for chemoattraction confirmed that UCX® are chemotactic to CD34-/CD45- BM-MSCs via a cell-specific mobilization mechanism mediated by G-CSF. Overall, the results strongly suggest different paracrine activities between MSCs derived from different tissue sources, revealing the potential of UCX® to extend the regenerative capacity of the organism by complementing the role of endogenous BM-MSCs.