The Immunosuppressive Activity of Amniotic Membrane Mesenchymal Stem Cells on T Lymphocytes

Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) are isolated from different sources like placenta. The placenta and its membranes like Amniotic Membrane (AM) are readily available and easy to work with. There is only limited knowledge on the immunomodulatory properties of human Amniotic Membrane-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hAM-MSCs). The aim of this study was to survey the suppressive activity of hAM-MSCs on T lymphocytes in vitro.

Human AMs were obtained after caesarean section births from healthy women. After enzymatic digestion, cells were cultured and hAM-MSCs were obtained. In addition, human T lymphocytes were isolated and co-cultured with hAM-MSCs for 72 hr in the presence or absence of phytohemagglutinin (PHA). Subsequently, proliferation of T cells was analyzed using BrdU and subsequently flow cytometry technique. Besides, the production of IL-4 and IFN-γ was examined by ELISA method. Additionally, the expression of activation markers (CD38, HLA-DR) was studied on T lymphocytes by flow cytometry technique.

It was revealed that hAM-MSCs could significantly suppress the proliferation of T lymphocytes (p≤0.01) and significantly decrease the production of IFN-γ by T cells (p<0.05). hAM-MSCs also down regulated the expression of activation markers on the surface of T lymphocytes, CD38 and HLA-DR. The difference was significant between the case and control samples (p<0.05). All the comparisons were carried out between the case (Tcell+PHA+hAM-MSCs) and control (Tcell+PHA) groups.

In conclusion, hAM-MSCs could inhibit the (mitogen-activated) T cells even in the absence of blood monocytes. Besides, hAM-MSCs-mediated inhibition of T lymphocytes was combined with down regulation of activation markers.