Recent studies showed that mesenchymal stem cells derived from adipose tissue can promote tumour progression, raising some concerns regarding their use in regenerative medicine. In this context, we co-cultured either SAOS2 osteosarcoma or MCF7 breast cancer cells with human adipose stem cells (hASCs), in order to evaluate potential effects of cancer cells on hASCs differentiation, in vitro and in vivo. In this study we observed that both SAOS2 and MCF7 cell lines induced an increase in hASCs proliferation, compared to hASCs alone, but, surprisingly, neither changes in the expression of CD90, CD29, CD324 and vimentin, nor variations in the Twist and Slug mRNAs were detectable. Noteworthy, SAOS2 and MCF7 cells induced in hASCs an upregulation of CD34 expression and stemness genes, including OCT3/4, Nanog, Sox2 and leptin, and a decrease in angiogenic factors, including CD31, PDGFα, PDGFRα, PDGFRβ and VEGF. SMAD and pSMAD2/3 increased only in hASCs alone. After 21 days of co-culture, hASCs differentiated both in adipocytes and endothelial cells. Moreover, co-injection of MCF7 cells with hASCs led to the formation of a highly vascularized tumour. Taken together our findings suggest that mesenchymal stem cells, under tumour cell induction, do not differentiate in vitro or facilitate the angiogenesis of the tumour in vivo, thus opening interesting new scenarios in the relationship between cancer and stem cells. These findings may also lead to greater caution, when managing autologous fat grafts in cancer patients.

Differential DNA methylation defects of H19/IGF2 are associated with congenital growth disorders characterized by opposite clinical pictures. Due to structural differences between human and mouse, the mechanisms by which mutations of the H19/IGF2 Imprinting Control region (IC1) result in these diseases are undefined. To address this issue, we previously generated a mouse line carrying a humanized IC1 (hIC1) and now replaced the wildtype with a mutant IC1 identified in the overgrowth-associated Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome. The new humanized mouse line shows pre/post-natal overgrowth on maternal transmission and pre/post-natal undergrowth on paternal transmission of the mutation. The mutant hIC1 acquires abnormal methylation during development causing opposite H19/Igf2 imprinting defects on maternal and paternal chromosomes. Differential and possibly mosaic Igf2 expression and imprinting is associated with asymmetric growth of bilateral organs. Furthermore, tissue-specific imprinting defects result in deficient liver- and placenta-derived Igf2 on paternal transmission and excessive Igf2 in peripheral tissues on maternal transmission, providing a possible molecular explanation for imprinting-associated and phenotypically contrasting growth disorders.

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