A groundbreaking study with the participation of Dr. Abdelkrim Hmadcha from IIB-VIU has shown that transplantation of umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cells delays the onset of hyperglycemia in experimental models of autoimmune diabetes through multiple immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory responses.

This work titled “Umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cells transplantation delays the onset of hyperglycemia in the RIP-B7.1 mouse model of experimental autoimmune diabetes through multiple immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory responses” is the result of the collaboration of Dr. Abdelkrim Hmadcha, researcher at the Biosanitary Research Institute in the Valencian International University, with researchers from the Andalusian Center for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine (CABIMER) in Seville, the Institute for Health and Biomedical Research of Alicante (ISABIAL) the Hospital General Universitario Dr. Balmis (HGUA) and the Miguel Hernández University of Alicante, within the framework of a research program in cell therapy for diabetes (RD16/0011/0034, RETICS-ISCIII).

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is an autoimmune disorder specifically targeting pancreatic islet beta cells. Despite many efforts focused on identifying new therapies able to counteract this autoimmune attack and/or stimulate beta cells regeneration, TD1M remains without effective clinical treatments providing no clear advantages over the conventional treatment with insulin. We previously postulated that both the inflammatory and immune responses and beta cell survival/regeneration must be simultaneously targeted to blunt the progression of disease. Umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (UC-MSC) exhibit anti-inflammatory, trophic, immunomodulatory and regenerative properties and have shown some beneficial yet controversial effects in clinical trials for T1DM. In order to clarify conflicting results, we herein dissected the cellular and molecular events derived from UC-MSC intraperitoneal administration (i.p.) in the RIP-B7.1 mouse model of experimental autoimmune diabetes. Intraperitoneal (i.p.) transplantation of heterologous mouse UC-MSC delayed the onset of diabetes in RIP-B7.1 mice. Importantly, UC-MSC i. p. transplantation led to a strong peritoneal recruitment of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) followed by multiple T-, B- and myeloid cells immunosuppressive responses in peritoneal fluid cells, spleen, pancreatic lymph nodes and the pancreas, which displayed significantly reduced insulitis and pancreatic infiltration of T and B Cells and pro-inflammatory macrophages. Altogether, these results suggest that UC- MSC i. p. transplantation can block or delay the development of hyperglycemia through suppression of inflammation and the immune attack.

Taken together, the findings of this study constitute new preclinical contributions on the safe and effective use of an advanced therapy drug in the form of umbilical cord- derived MSCs cells, which will undoubtedly have an impact on the possibility of implementing a new allogeneic cell therapy for the treatment of diabetes and other autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

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