Activated T lymphocytes play an important role in the pathogenesis of rheumatic diseases (RD). Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess immunoregulatory activities but such functions of MSCs from bone marrow of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), systemic sclerosis (SSc), and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients are impaired. Adipose tissue-derived MSCs (ASCs) are an optional pool of therapeutically useful MSCs, but biology of these cells in RD is poorly known. This study aimed at investigating the effect of ASCs from RD patients and healthy donors (HD) on the expression of the key T-cell activation markers.
ASCs were isolated from subcutaneous abdominal fat from SLE (
In co-cultures with allogeneic, activated CD4
RD/ASCs retain normal capability to regulate expression of activation markers on allogeneic T cells. Both HD/ASCs and RD/ASCs exert this effect independently of their activation status, mostly through the indirect pathway and soluble factors. However, autologous CD4