Amniotic membrane-derived stem cells: immunomodulatory properties and potential clinical application

Abstract

Epithelial and mesenchymal cells isolated from the amniotic membrane (AM) possess stem cell characteristics, differentiation potential toward lineages of different germ layers, and immunomodulatory properties. While their expansion and differentiation potential have been well studied and characterized, knowledge about their immunomodulatory properties and the mechanisms involved is still incomplete. These mechanisms have been evaluated on various target cells of the innate and the adaptive system and in animal models of different inflammatory diseases. Some results have evidenced that the immunomodulatory effect of AM-derived cells is dependent on cell-cell contact, but many of them have demonstrated that these properties are mediated through the secretion of suppressive molecules. In this review, we present an update on the described immunomodulatory properties of the derived amniotic cells and some of the proposed involved mechanisms. Furthermore, we describe some assays in animal models of different inflammatory diseases which reveal the potential use of these cells to treat such diseases.

Effects of human amnion–derived mesenchymal stromal cell transplantation in rats with radiation proctitis

“…Recent reports have suggested a similar efficacy of AMSCs in several other diseases [41][42][43]. It has been demonstrated that intravenous infusion of human AMSCs ameliorates inflammation and fibrosis in the lung induced by bleomycin in mice [43] and reduces liver fibrosis induced by carbon tetrachloride administration in mice [44].…”

Dehydrated human amnion/chorion membrane regulates stem cell activity in vitro

“…Recently, multipotent MSCs have also been isolated in placental tissues, including the amnion and chorion layers of the amniotic membrane,21, 22, 23, 24 and these amniotic membrane derived stem cells have demonstrated the ability to regulate immune cells though secretion of various immunomodulatory cytokines 25, 26, 27, 28…”

Conjunctiva reconstruction by induced differentiation of human amniotic epithelial cells

“…Human amniotic epithelia are adult stem cells, with multiple differentiation potentials, similar to embryonic stem cells (Miki et al, 2005), are advantageous due to properties such as low immunogenicity, absence of oncogenicity, high availability, and absence of ethical concerns regarding their use. Therefore, human amniotic epithelia are the ideal choice as seeding cells in bio-tissue engineering and have been reported to differentiate into multiple tissues and cells (Fliniaux et al, 2004;Insausti et al, 2014;Zeng et al, 2014). In this study, we used human amniotic epithelia as seeding cells to investigate the directional differentiation of stem cells into fornical conjunctiva while mimicking the in vivo microenvironment using conjunctival homogenate and decellularized conjunctival matrix.…”