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Implications of the immunoregulatory functions of mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of human liver diseases

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 8, pages 19–22 (2011)Cite this article

Abstract

Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has been recently studied in animal models, and in clinical trials of patients with fulminant hepatic failure, end-stage liver diseases and inherited metabolic disorders. Modulatory cytokines produced by MSCs can inhibit immunocyte proliferation and migration to the liver, thereby attenuating inflammatory injury and reducing hepatocyte apoptosis. In addition, MSCs play an important role in regressing liver fibrosis and in supporting the function, proliferation and differentiation of endogenous hepatocytes under appropriate conditions. Although remarkable progress has been achieved in basic and clinical MSC studies, optimal therapeutic regimens for the clinical application of MSCs, such as optimal doses, transplantation routine and interval period for transplantation, need to be elucidated in detail. Furthermore, the long-term safety and therapeutic efficacy of MSC transplantation should be evaluated in future clinical trials. This review summarizes our current understanding of the immunomodulatory effects of MSC therapies on human liver diseases.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the National Grand Program on Key Infectious Disease (No. 2009ZX10004-309, No. 2008ZX10002-007 and No. 2008ZX10002-005-6) and the National Key Basic Research Program of China (No. 2007CB512805 and No. 2007CB512804).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Liver Disease Research Center for Biological Therapy, Beijing 302 Hospital, Beijing, China

    Hu Lin, Ruonan Xu, Zheng Zhang, Liming Chen, Ming Shi & Fu-Sheng Wang

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Correspondence to Fu-Sheng Wang.

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Lin, H., Xu, R., Zhang, Z. et al. Implications of the immunoregulatory functions of mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of human liver diseases. Cell Mol Immunol 8, 19–22 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2010.57

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