c-Casitas b-Lineage Lymphoma Downregulation Improves the Ability of Long-term Cultured Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Promoting Angiogenesis and Diabetic Wound Healing

Abstract

The chronic wound induced by diabetes has poor efficacy and could lead to amputation. The repair function of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) impaired after long-term culture in vitro. Studies have shown that the proto-oncogene c-Casitas b-lineage lymphoma (c-Cbl) can regulate receptor- and non-receptor tyrosine kinase, which was also involved in the angiogenesis process. This study aimed to explore the regulative effect of c-Cbl on the proangiogenic functions of long-term cultured MSCs and evaluate its pro-healing effect on diabetic wounds. In this study, the c-Cbl level was downregulated by locked nucleic acid–modified antisense oligonucleotide gapmers (LNA Gapmers). We detected the effect of c-Cbl downregulation on long-term cultured MSCs in terms of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signal, cellular proliferation, senescence, migration, and angiogenic factors paracrine activity in vitro. In vivo, we observed the pro-healing effect of long-term cultured MSCs, with or without c-Cbl downregulation, on the diabetic wound. We found that the phosphorylation level of c-Cbl increased and that of Akt decreased in passage 10 (P10) MSCs compared with passage 3 (P3) MSCs ( P < 0.05). Additionally, the proliferation, paracrine, and migration capacity of P10 MSCs decreased significantly, accompanied by the increase of cellular senescence ( P < 0.05). However, these functions, including PI3K/Akt activity of P10 MSCs, have been improved by c-Cbl downregulation ( P < 0.05). Compared with P10 MSCs treatment, treatment with c-Cbl downregulated P10 MSCs accelerated diabetic wound healing, as defined by a more rapid wound closure ( P < 0.05), more neovascularization ( P < 0.05), and higher scores of wound histological assessment ( P < 0.05) in a diabetic rat model. Our findings suggested that c-Cbl downregulation could attenuate the impairment of proangiogenic functions in MSCs induced by long-term culture in vitro and improve the effect of long-term cultured MSCs in promoting diabetic wound healing.