MHC expression kinetics and immunogenicity of mesenchymal stromal cells after short-term IFN-gamma challenge

Under the influence of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are conditional antigen-presenting cells, which have immunosuppressive potential. Apart from IFN-gamma upregulation of major histocompatibility complexes class I and II (MHC-I and MHC-II) expression, the underlying kinetics and mechanisms have not been described previously. This information is helpful to delineate how human MSCs can be modulated by IFN-gamma in different clinical scenarios.

Here, we demonstrated that IFN-gamma-treated MSCs underwent classical signal transduction pathway via phosphorylation of signal transducers and activators of transcription-1, activation of interferon regulatory factor-1, and class II transactivator comparable to that of primary human blood macrophages.

IFN-gamma markedly induced expression of MHC-I instantly, while its effects on MHC-II were less dramatic and delayed up to 4 days. This is due to a slower intracellular transport of the MHC-II antigen to the membrane surface. More important is that MSCs showed a reduction in their proliferation by 50% without evidence of cell death after prolonged IFN-gamma treatment for 8 days. High-dose IFN-gamma-treated MSCs (500 U/mL) could initiate T-cell activation as indicated by expression of CD25 and proliferation of allogeneic T cells.

The summative IFN-gamma effects will adversely affect the immunoprivilege status and lifespan of MSCs.