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In vitro anti-leukemic effect of Wharton’s jelly derived mesenchymal stem cells

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Abstract

Background

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the ability to self-renew and are multi-potent. They are a primary candidate for cell-based therapy due to their potential anti-cancer effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro anti-leukemic effect of Wharton’s Jelly-derived MSC (WJ-MSC) on the leukemic cell lines K562 and HL-60.

Methods

In this present study, WJ-MSCs were isolated from human umbilical cord. The cells were incubated according to the standard culture conditions and characterized by flow cytometry. For experiments, WJ-MSC and leukemic cells were incubated in the direct co-culture at a ratio of 1:5 (leukemia cells: WJ-MSC). HUVEC cells were used as a non-cancerous cell line model. The apoptotic effect of WJ-MSCs on the cell lines was analyzed using Annexin V/PI apoptosis assay.

Results

After the direct co-culture of WJ-MSCs on leukemic cell lines, we observed anti-leukemic effects by inducing apoptosis. We had two groups of determination apoptosis with and without WJ-MSCs for all cell lines. Increased apoptosis rates were observed in K562 and HL-60 cell lines, whereas the apoptosis rates in HUVEC cells were low.

Conclusions

MSCs are known to inhibit the growth of tumors of both hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic origin in vitro. In our study, WJ-MSC treatment strongly inhibited the viability of HL-60 and K562 and induced apoptosis. Our results also provided new insights into the inhibition of tumor growth by WJ-MSCs in vitro. In the future, WJ-MSCs could be used to inhibit cancer cells in clinical applications.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of Istanbul University (Project number: 32829).

Funding

The present work was supported by the Research Fund of Istanbul University. Project No. 32829.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Biology, Istanbul University, Fatih, Istanbul, 34093, Turkey

    Mediha Süleymanoğlu, Ayşe Erol Bozkurt, Figen Abatay Sel & Fatma Savran Oğuz

  2. Bakırköy Sadi Konuk Education and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey

    İsa Aykut Özdemir

  3. Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Physiology, Istanbul University, Fatih, Istanbul, 34093, Turkey

    Dürdane Serap Kuruca

  4. Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Microbiology, Istanbul University, Fatih, Istanbul, 34093, Turkey

    Zerrin Aktaş

  5. Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatric Hematology, Istanbul University, Fatih, Istanbul, 34093, Turkey

    Zeynep Karakaş

  6. Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Istanbul University, Fatih, Istanbul, 34093, Turkey

    Mustafa Oral Öncül

Authors
  1. Mediha Süleymanoğlu
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Contributions

Mediha Süleymanoğlu, Ayşe Erol, Figen Abatay Sel, İsa Aykut Özdemir, Fatma Savran Oğuz, Dürdane Serap Kuruca, Zerrin Aktaş, Zeynep Karakaş, Mustafa Oral Öncül. All authors participated in designing the study, drafting, writing, and editing the manuscript, and approving it for submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mediha Süleymanoğlu.

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The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethics approval

Our current experimental study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Istanbul University Istanbul Faculty of Medicine with broad approval number 2018/1258/256579. Human umbilical cord tissues used in the study were obtained from individuals (n = 9, all non-smokers) who had healthy pregnancy and volunteered to participate to the study with the informed consent in the department of the obstetrics and Gynecology Polyclinic at Istanbul Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Education and Research Hospital.

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Süleymanoğlu, M., Erol Bozkurt, A., Abatay Sel, F. et al. In vitro anti-leukemic effect of Wharton’s jelly derived mesenchymal stem cells. Mol Biol Rep 51, 595 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-024-09512-7

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