PARK7/HSPB1-Mediated Neuroprotective Effects of SHED in an In vitro Parkinson's Disease Model

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons. Studies have shown that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have prominent neuroprotective potential to improve PD. Previous study found that dental pulp‑derived MSCs, including stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED), significantly ameliorated PD-related pathology, but the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. In this study, HSPB1 and PARK7 were initially identified through transcriptomic analyses of mouse and clinical samples, immunoprecipitation‑mass spectrometry (IP‑pulldown), and protein‑protein interaction (PPI) network analysis. Using an MPTP-induced SH-SY5Y cell model of PD, we found that SHED treatment alleviated oxidative stress, restored mitochondrial membrane potential, and inhibited apoptosis, accompanied by significant upregulation of HSPB1 and PARK7. Using siRNA interference, we confirmed that both HSPB1 and PARK7 are involved in the improvement of PD by SHED. Rescue experiments showed that HSPB1 overexpression partially restored the neuroprotective effects impaired by PARK7 knockdown, whereas PARK7 overexpression failed to compensate for HSPB1 deficiency, suggesting a functional dependence between PARK7 and HSPB1 in SHED-mediated neuroprotection. This study demonstrates that SHED improves PD pathological progression through the PARK7/HSPB1-related mechanism and indicates that HSPB1 may serve as a potential therapeutic target for PD.