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Human umbilical cord perivascular cells-derived extracellular vesicles mediate the transfer of IGF-I to the liver and ameliorate hepatic fibrogenesis in mice

Gene Therapy volume 27, pages 62–73 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) can mediate mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) paracrine effects. We aimed to evaluate the therapeutic potential of human umbilical cord perivascular cells (HUCPVCs) engineered to produce Insulin Growth Factor like-I (IGF-I) in experimental liver fibrosis and the role of EVs in this effect. HUCPVCs were engineered to produce human IGF-I (AdhIGF-I) or green fluorescence protein (AdGFP) using adenoviruses, and EVs were isolated from their conditioned medium (CM). In vitro effects of CM and EVs on hepatic stellate cells and hepatic macrophages were studied. Cells or EVs-based treatments were evaluated in thioacetamide-induced liver fibrosis in mice. The application of AdhIGF-I-HUCPVCs resulted in a further amelioration of liver fibrosis when compared to AdGFP-HUCPVCs and saline. Similarly, treatment with AdhIGF-I-HUCPVCs-derived EVs resulted in a reduction of collagen deposition and gene expression of the fibrogenic related molecules TGF-β1, α-SMA, and COL1A2. In vitro incubation of hepatic stellate cells with EVs-AdhIGF-I-HUCPVCs significantly reduced activation of fibrogenic cells. In addition, EVs-AdhIGF-I-HUCPVCs trigger hepatic macrophages to switch their phenotype towards anti-inflammatory phagocytes, which might be involved in the antifibrotic effect. Consistently, high levels of IGF-I were observed within EVs-AdhIGF-I-HUCPVCs but not in controls EVs. Our results showed that hIGF-I carrying EVs could mediate the paracrine mechanism by which AdhIGF-I-HUCPVCs reduce liver fibrosis.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge Paula Rosello, Alejandrina Real, Mariana Banis, and Guillermo Gaston for technical support.

Funding

This work was supported in part by grants from the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT) (PICT 2015 N° 2036; PICTO 2016-0101), Fundación Allende, Fundación Alberto Roemmers, PUE0102 (CONICET), and Universidad Austral.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Esteban Fiore, Luciana M. Domínguez

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gene Therapy Laboratory, Instituto de Investigaciones en Medicina Traslacional, CONICET-Universidad Austral, Av. Pte. Perón 1500 (B1629AHJ) Derqui-Pilar, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Esteban Fiore, Luciana M. Domínguez, Juan Bayo, Mariana Malvicini, Catalina Atorrasagasti, Marcelo Rodriguez, María José Cantero, Mariana García & Guillermo Mazzolini

  2. CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Esteban Fiore, Juan Bayo, Mariana Malvicini, Catalina Atorrasagasti, Mariana García, Gustavo Yannarelli & Guillermo Mazzolini

  3. Laboratorio de Regulación Génica y Células Madre. Instituto de Medicina Traslacional, Trasplante y Bioingeniería (IMeTTyB), Universidad Favaloro-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Gustavo Yannarelli

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  1. Esteban Fiore
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Correspondence to Guillermo Mazzolini.

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Fiore, E., Domínguez, L.M., Bayo, J. et al. Human umbilical cord perivascular cells-derived extracellular vesicles mediate the transfer of IGF-I to the liver and ameliorate hepatic fibrogenesis in mice. Gene Ther 27, 62–73 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41434-019-0102-7

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