Human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hASCs) are mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with reduced immunogenicity and capability to modulate immune responses. Whereas the immunosuppressive activity of bone marrow-MSCs has received considerable attention during the last few years, the specific mechanisms underlying hASC-mediated immunosuppression have been poorly studied. Recent studies comparing both cell types have reported differences at transcriptional and proteomic levels, suggesting that hASCs and bone marrow-MSCs, while having similarities, are quite different. This suggests that different mechanisms of immunosuppression may apply. Here, we report that hASCs inhibit peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell proliferation in both cell-cell contact and transwell conditions, which is accompanied by a reduction of proinflammatory cytokines. We demonstrate that hASCs do not constitutively express immunomodulatory factors. Conditioned supernatants from hASCs stimulated by IFN-gamma, PBMCs, or activated PBMCs highly inhibited PBMC proliferation, indicating that inhibitory factors are released upon hASC activation. Many factors have been involved in MSC-mediated immunosuppression, including IFN-gamma, IL-10, hepatocyte growth factor, prostaglandin E2, transforming growth factor-beta1, indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), nitric oxide, and IL-10. Using pharmacological inhibitors, neutralizing antibodies, and genetically modified hASCs that constitutively express or silence IDO enzyme, we demonstrate that, in the case of hASCs, the IFN-gamma/IDO axis is essential. Taken together, our data support the key role of IDO in the therapeutic use of hASC on immunomediated diseases.

This report describes the distribution of conventional nuclear localization sequences (NLS) and of a beta-stranded so-called nuclear localization motif (NLM) in the two proteins (VP1, 82 kDa; VP2, 63 kDa) forming the T‫1؍‬ icosahedral capsid of the parvovirus minute virus of mice (MVM) and their functions in viral biogenesis and the onset of infection. The approximately 10 VP1 molecules assembled in the MVM particle harbor in its 142-amino-acid (aa) N-terminal-specific region four clusters of basic amino acids, here called BC1 (aa 6 to 10), BC2 (aa 87 to 90), BC3 (aa 109 to 115), and BC4 (aa 126 to 130), that fit consensus NLS and an NLM placed toward the opposite end of the polypeptide (aa 670 to 680) found to be necessary for VP2 nuclear uptake. Deletions and site-directed mutations constructed in an infectious MVM plasmid showed that BC1, BC2, and NLM are cooperative nuclear transport sequences in singly expressed VP1 subunits and that they conferred nuclear targeting competence on the VP1/VP2 oligomers arising in normal infection, while BC3 and BC4 did not display nuclear transport activity. Notably, VP1 proteins mutated at BC1 and -2, and particularly with BC1 to -4 sequences deleted, induced nuclear and cytoplasmic foci of colocalizing conjugated ubiquitin that could be rescued from the ubiquitin-proteasome degradation pathway by the coexpression of VP2 and NS2 isoforms. These results suggest a role for VP2 in viral morphogenesis by assisting cytoplasmic folding of VP1/VP2 subviral complexes, which is further supported by the capacity of NLM-bearing transport-competent VP2 subunits to recruit VP1 into the nuclear capsid assembly pathway regardless of the BC composition. Instead, all four BC sequences, which are located in the interior of the capsid, were absolutely required by the incoming infectious MVM particle for the onset of infection, suggesting either an important conformational change or a disassembly of the coat for nuclear entry of a VP1-associated viral genome. Therefore, the evolutionarily conserved BC sequences and NLM domains provide complementary nuclear transport functions to distinct supramolecular complexes of capsid proteins during the autonomous parvovirus life cycle.The nuclear membrane offers a second barrier to those viruses that, upon specific cell surface recognition and internalization, need components of the replication and transcription machinery of the host cells for their multiplication. Indeed the structural components of karyophilic viruses reach the nucleus at two stages of the life cycle, first when the incoming particle delivers the genome and late in the infection during the nuclear accumulation of viral components leading to the biogenesis of the virions. As for the cellular components, the nuclear import of viral macromolecules must proceed across the central aqueous channel of the nuclear pore complex (NPC) (18, 58), a large structure with an eightfold rotational symmetry built from proteins called nucleoporins. Cytoplasmic-nuclear transport is directed by the interac...

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have differentiation and immunomodulatory properties that make them interesting tools for the treatment of degenerative disorders, allograft rejection, or inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Biological properties of MSCs can be modulated by the inflammatory microenvironment they face at the sites of injury or inflammation. Indeed, MSCs do not constitutively exert their immunomodulating properties but have to be primed by inflammatory mediators released from immune cells and inflamed tissue. A polarization process, mediated by Toll-like receptors (TLRs), toward either an anti-inflammatory or a pro-inflammatory phenotype has been described for MSCs. TLRs have been linked to allograft rejection and the perpetuation of chronic inflammatory diseases (e.g., Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis) through the recognition of conserved pathogen-derived components or endogenous ligands (danger signals) produced upon injury. Interest in understanding the effects of TLR activation on MSCs has greatly increased in the last few years since MSCs will likely encounter TLR ligands at sites of injury, and it has been proven that the activation of TLRs in MSCs can modulate their function and therapeutic effect.

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Breast cancer cell lines that express the nuclear peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ␥ (PPAR␥) can be prompted to undergo growth arrest and differentiation when treated with synthetic PPAR␥ ligands. To evaluate the therapeutic potential of increased PPAR␥ signaling in vivo, we generated transgenic mice that express a constitutively active form of PPAR␥ in mammary gland. These mice are indistinguishable from their wild-type littermates. However, when bred to a transgenic strain prone to mammary gland cancer, bigenic animals develop tumors with greatly accelerated kinetics. Surprisingly, in spite of their more malignant nature, bigenic tumors are more secretory and differentiated. The molecular basis of this tumor-promoting effect may be an increase in Wnt signaling, as ligand activation of PPAR␥ potentiates Wnt function in an in vivo model of this pathway. These results suggest that once an initiating event has taken place, increased PPAR␥ signaling serves as a tumor promoter in the mammary gland. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are members of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily, ligand-responsive transcription factors that participate in many important physiological processes . Mammals have three different PPARs (PPAR␣, PPAR␦, PPAR␥) that form functional heterodimers with the retinoid receptor RXR. These complexes are chief regulators of lipid storage and catabolism. Native and oxidized polyunsaturated fatty acids bind the PPARs and stimulate their transcriptional activity. The function of the PPARs is also modulated by arachidonic acid derivatives, such as prostaglandins and eicosanoids.PPAR␥ is the best-characterized member of the family. Its most prominent role is to regulate differentiation of cell types with active lipid metabolism, such as adipocytes and macrophage foam cells Walczak and Tontonoz 2002). The importance of this receptor in lipid homeostasis and energy balance is accentuated by the widespread use of thiazolidinediones (TZDs), synthetic PPAR␥ ligands, as antidiabetic drugs. The existence of FDA-approved PPAR␥ agonists and the ability of this receptor to induce cellular differentiation encouraged us to explore whether stimulation of PPAR␥ activity could curtail malignant cell growth, in analogy with what is observed with retinoic acid in acute promyelocytic leukemia.A survey of tumors revealed that PPAR␥ is generally overexpressed in liposarcoma, colon, breast, and prostate carcinoma (Tontonoz et al. 1997;DuBois et al. 1998). When treated with PPAR␥ and RXR ligands, cell lines derived from these neoplasms undergo morphological transformation and growth arrest in vitro (Tontonoz et al. 1997;Elstner et al. 1998;Kubota et al. 1998;Mueller et al. 1998;Sarraf et al. 1998). Additional cell culture studies have suggested that lung, pancreatic, and hematopoietic tumor cells also respond to thiazolidinedione treatment (Sporn et al. 2001). These observations prompted trials to evaluate PPAR␥ agonists as therapeutics in human liposarcoma, colon, breast, and prostate cancer...

Human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) are mesenchymal stem cells with reduced immunogenicity and the capability to modulate immune responses. These properties make hASCs of special interest as therapeutic agents in the settings of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Exogenous and endogenous toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands have been linked with the perpetuation of inflammation in a number of chronic inflammatory diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis because of the permanent exposure of the immune system to TLR-specific stimuli. Therefore, hASCs employed in therapy are potentially exposed to TLR ligands, which may result in the modulation of hASC activity and therapeutic potency. In this study, we demonstrate that hASCs possess active TLR2, TLR3, and TLR4, because activation with specific ligands resulted in induction of nuclear factor kappa B-dependent genes, such as manganese superoxide dismutase and the release of interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8. TLR3 and TLR4 ligands increased osteogenic differentiation, but no effect on adipogenic differentiation or proliferation was observed. Moreover, we show that TLR activation does not impair the immunogenic and immunosuppressive properties of hASCs. These results may have important implications with respect to the safety and efficacy of hASC-based cell therapies.

The determinants of nuclear import in the VP-1 and VP-2 capsid proteins of the parvovirus minute virus of mice strain i (MVMi) synthesized in human fibroblasts were sought by genetic analysis in an infectious plasmid. Immunofluorescence of transfected cells revealed that the two proteins were involved in cooperative cytoplasmic interactions for nuclear cotransport. However, while VP-1 translocated regardless of extension of deletions and did not form capsid epitopes by itself, VP-2 seemed to require cytoplasmic folding and the overall conformation for nuclear transport. The sequence 528 KGKLTMRAKLR 538 was found necessary for nuclear uptake of VP-2, even though it was not sufficient to confer a nuclear localization capacity on a heterologous protein. In the icosahaedral MVMi capsid, this sequence forms the carboxy end of the amphipathic beta-strand I (␤I), and all its basic residues are contiguously positioned at the face that in the unassembled subunit would be exposed to solvent. Mutations in singly expressed VP-2 that either decrease the net basic charge of the exposed face (K530N-R534T), perturb the hydrophobicity of the opposite face (L531E), or distort the ␤I conformation (G529P) produced cytoplasmic subviral oligomers. Particle formation by ␤I mutants indicated that the basic residues clustered at one face of ␤I drive VP oligomers into the nucleus preceding and uncoupled to assembly and that the nuclear environment is required for MVMi capsid formation in the infected cell. The degree of VP-1/VP-2 transport cooperativity suggests that VP trimers are the morphogenetic intermediates translocating through the nuclear pore. The results support a model in which nuclear transport signaling preserves the VP-1/VP-2 stoichiometry necessary for efficient intranuclear assembly and in which the betastranded VP-2 nuclear localization motif contributes to the quality control of viral morphogenesis.The successful multiplication of many viruses depends on their gaining access to the transcription and replication machineries confined in the nucleus of the eukaryotic cell. Viruses of different compositions and sizes enter the nucleus during their life cycles in the form of particles, complexes, or virion subunits (28). These viruses use molecular interactions connecting to the physiological nuclear transport pathways of the cellular proteins. In the eukaryotic cell, most karyophilic polypeptides actively transported through the nuclear pore complex (NPC) (65) harbor a nuclear localization signal (NLS) necessary for nuclear import. In the so-called classical form, the NLS consists of a short sequence of basic amino acids either in a single cluster, as originally described for the simian virus 40 large T antigen (33), or in two domains, as for the nucleoplasmin bipartite nuclear targeting sequence (51). The import pathway of classical NLS-bearing proteins into the nucleus proceeds by consecutive interactions comprising importins ␣ and ␤ (14, 15; reviewed in reference 42), and additional soluble factors to dock to the cytopla...

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are of special interest as therapeutic agents in the settings of both chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Toll-like receptors (TLR) ligands have been linked with the perpetuation of inflammation in a number of chronic inflammatory diseases due to the permanent exposure of the immune system to TLR-specific stimuli. Therefore, MSCs employed in therapy can be potentially exposed to TLR ligands, which may modulate MSC therapeutic potential in vivo. Recent results demonstrate that MSCs are activated by TLR ligands leading to modulation of the differentiation, migration, proliferation, survival, and immunosuppression capacities. However inconsistent results among authors have been reported suggesting that the source of MSCs, TLR stimuli employed or culture conditions play a role. Notably, activation by TLR ligands has not been reported to modulate the “immunoprivileged” phenotype of MSCs which is of special relevance regarding the use of allogeneic MSC-based therapies. In this review, we discuss the available data on the modulation of MSCs activity through TLR signalling.