The administration of mesenchymal stem cells/multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) to enhance tissue repair is currently undergoing clinical trials. Some studies, including our previous work, have also revealed the beneficial effect of MSCs in severe acute pancreatitis (SAP); however, their mechanisms or mode of action remain controversial. In this study, we demonstrated that intravenously (i.v.)-administered human MSCs (hMSCs) remarkably promoted recovery from experimental SAP without significant engraftment of hMSCs in the damaged pancreas. Interestingly, we found that i.v.-administered hMSCs with knockdown of TSG-6 expression lost most of their anti-inflammatory effects and thus could not significantly ameliorate SAP. As expected, the effects of hMSCs were also duplicated by i.v. infusion of recombinant TSG-6. Furthermore, our results showed that the increase of oxidative stress, activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and NF-κB signaling in SAP was substantially inhibited following administration of hMSCs or TSG-6, which was dependent on the presence of CD-44 receptors in acinar cells. In conclusion, our study, for the first time, revealed that novel mechanisms are responsible for the immunomodulatory effect of i.v. hMSCs.

Acute pancreatitis (AP), a common acute abdominal disease, 10%–20% of which can evolve into severe acute pancreatitis (SAP), is of significant morbidity and mortality. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) have been reported to have a potential therapeutic role on SAP, but the specific mechanism is unclear. Therefore, we conducted this experiment to shed light on the probable mechanism. We validated that SDF-1α significantly stimulated the expressions of VEGF, ANG-1, HGF, TGF-β, and CXCR4 in BMSCs, which were inhibited by its receptor agonist, AMD3100. The capacities of proliferation, migration, and repair of human umbilical vein endothelial cells were enhanced by BMSCs supernatant. Meanwhile, BMSCs supernatant could also promote angiogenesis, especially after the stimulation with SDF-1α. In vivo, the migration of BMSCs was regulated by SDF-1α/CXCR4 axis. Moreover, transplanted BMSCs could significantly alleviate SAP, reduce the systematic inflammation (TNF-α↓, IL-1β↓, IL-6↓, IL-4↑, IL-10↑, and TGF-β↑), and promote tissue repair and angiogenesis (VEGF↑, ANG-1↑, HGF↑, TGF-β↑, and CD31↑), compared with the SAP and anti-CXCR4 groups. Taken together, the results showed that BMSCs ameliorated SAP and the SDF-1α/CXCR4 axis was involved in the repair and regeneration process.

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common acute abdominal disease, 10–20% of which can evolve into severe AP (SAP) causing significant morbidity and mortality. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) have the potential of repairing SAP, but the detailed mechanism remains unknown. We demonstrate here that microRNA-9 (miR-9) modified BMSCs (pri-miR-9-BMSCs) can significantly reduce the pancreatic edema, infiltration, hemorrhage, necrosis, the release of amylase and lipase. Meanwhile, decreased local/systemic inflammatory response (TNF-α↓, IL-1β↓, IL-6↓, HMGB1↓, MPO↓, CD68↓, IL-4↑, IL-10↑, and TGF-β↑) and enhanced regeneration of damaged pancreas (Reg4↑, PTF1↑, and PDX1↑) are also promoted. But these effects diminish or disappear after antagonizing miR-9 (TuD). Besides, we find that miR-9 is negatively correlated with AP and miR-9 agomir which can mimic the effects of pri-miR-9-BMSCs and protect injured pancreas. Furthermore, we investigate that BMSCs deliver miR-9 to the injured pancreas or peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC), which can target the NF-κB1/p50 gene and inhibit the NF-κB signaling pathway (p-P65↓, NF-κB1/p50↓, IκBα↑, IκBβ↑). Taken together, these results show that miR-9 is a key paracrine factor of BMSCs attenuating SAP targeting the NF-κB1/p50 gene and suppressing the NF-κB signaling pathway.