The Use Of Allogeneic Mesenchymal Stromal Cells To Refine The Emerging "Cell-Sheet" Technique For The Treatment Of Heart Failure

We have reported that epicardial placement of cell-sheets composed of bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) markedly increases donor MSC survival and amplifies paracrine effects, thereby augmenting therapeutic benefits, compared to the current cell-delivery method. It is also suggested that allogeneic MSCs may be useful for cell therapy without immunosuppression. We thus examined immune rejection and therapeutic effects of allogeneic MSC-sheets for heart failure. Methods & Results: Flow cytometory and qRT-PCR showed that expression of MHC class I and II in rat MSCs was lesser than that of unfractionated bone marrow cells. Four weeks after coronary artery ligation, female Lewis rats underwent placement of sheets composed of 4 million MSCs from male Lewis rats (Auto group) or Fisher rats (Allo group) generated using temperature responsive dishes, or sham treatment (Cont group). Up to day 3 post treatment, Allo MSCs survived similarly to the Auto MSCs (Table), leading to analogous myocardial upregulat...