Human Amniotic Epithelial Cells Affect the Functions of Neutrophils

Abstract

Background and Objectives: As a stem cell group, Human amniotic epithelial cells (HAECs) have numerous advantages over their embryonic and adult counterparts for therapeutic utility. They are closer to clinical applications compared to other stem cell types. Additionally, the anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory properties of HAECs toward several immune cells have been shown previously. Nevertheless, despite the ever-increasing importance of neutrophils in the immune and non-immune processes, a few studies investigated the interaction of neutrophils and HAECs. To increase the current knowledge of HAECs immunology which is necessary for optimizing their future clinical applications, here we explored the effect of HAECs on two chief neutrophil functions; respiratory burst and phagocytosis. Methods and Results: Freshly isolated human blood neutrophils were co-cultured with different number of HAECs for about 24 or 48 hours, then the oxidative burst and phagocytosis of stimulated neutrophils were assessed and compared. The results demonstrated a substantial elevation in the phagocytosis percentage, conversely a significant reduction in the oxidative burst of HAECs-cocultured neutrophils. These effects were dose-dependent, but did not show similar patterns. Likewise, the elongation of coculture period inversely influenced the HAECs-induced effects on the two neutrophil functions. Conclusions: The present study, for the first time, investigated the HAECs-mediated effects on the two main neutrophil functions. The findings suggest that HAECs by enhancement of phagocytic ability and simultaneously, attenuation of oxidative burst capacity of neutrophils protect the fetus from both microbial treats and oxidative stress and their consequent inflammation; thus corroborate the current anti-inflammatory vision of HAECs.

Human Amniotic Epithelial Stem Cells: A Promising Seed Cell for Clinical Applications

“…Moreover, hAESCs exert multiple immunosuppressive activities via inhibiting the cytotoxicity of NK cells and monocytes and promoting the induction and maturation of Treg cells [ 131 , 132 ]. Recently, researchers found that hAESCs can improve the phagocytic ability of neutrophils while reducing their oxidative burst capacity, thereby protecting the fetus from both microbial infections and oxidative stress and the consequent inflammation [ 133 ].…”

Biological properties and surgical applications of the human amniotic membrane

“…Moreover, monocytes secreted less TNF-α and IL-6 (Li et al, 2015;Tan et al, 2015). AM improved the phagocytosis of neutrophils, but at the same time, decreased their oxidative burst capacity and neutrophil extracellular traps (Navas et al, 2018;Alipour et al, 2020). Another immunomodulatory property of hAECs was observed through the trogocytosis process, where cell-to-cell transfer of human leukocyte antigen G (HLA-G) from hAECs to effector T cells was observed, which may account for the acquisition of a regulatory T cell (Treg) phenotype independent of FoxP3 transcription.…”

Therapeutic Features of Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Human Amniotic Epithelial Cells in Multiple Sclerosis

“…It is reported that hAECs have immunomodulatory impacts on adaptive and innate immune systems [17,88,89]. They exert suppressive effects on the activations of natural killer (NK) and CD4+ T cells, migrations of neutrophil and macrophage, secretions of pro-inflammatory cytokines of CD4+ T cells, and proliferation of B cells [23,61,90,91]. These impacts are primarily mediated through the productions of immunoregulatory mediators, such as IL-4, PG-E2, and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), which may participate in the increase of Tregs and Th2 cells, inhibition of pathogenic T-cell reactions, and protection of the peripheral naive CD4+ T-cell source [61,63,[92][93][94][95].…”