Mesenchymal stem cell-based angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 in treatment of acute lung injury rat induced by bleomycin.

Gao, Fengying; Li, Qian; Hou, Lili; Li, Zhuozhe; Min, Fang; Liu, Zhenwei

BACKGROUND Acute lung injury (ALI) is a high incidence disease with no effective therapeutic method (mortality rate > 40%). The aim of this study was to find a new and effective therapeutic method for ALI. METHODS After the isolation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (HUMSCs) from cesarean fetus, we transfected the HUMSCs with Lenti-ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2) viral particles. Then we evaluated the therapeutic effect of HUMSCs harboring ACE2 on ALI, which induced by bleomycin (BLM) in rat model. RESULTS Our results showed that HUMSCs harboring ACE2 could attenuate ALI degree through reducing pulmonary inflammatory infiltration and degree of vascular permeability, repressing the mRNA level of pro-inflammatory cytokines, activating the mRNA level of anti-inflammatory cytokines and ACE2. Besides, results also demonstrated that HUMSCs harboring ACE2 gene had higher therapeutic effects to ALI than the single factor of HUMSCs or ACE2. CONCLUSIONS This research provided clues for the development of effective therapeutic methods to ALI using stem cell transplantation and gene therapy.