Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells alleviate atherosclerosis by modulating inflammatory responses

The transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has been a reported method for alleviating atherosclerosis (AS). Because the availability of bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSCs) is limited, the authors used this study to explore the use of a new type of MSC, human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived MSCs (iPSC-MSCs), to evaluate whether these cells could alleviate AS. iPSC-MSCs were intravenously administered to ApoE knock out mice fed on a high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks. It was reported that systematically administering iPSC-MSCs clearly reduced the size of plaques. In addition, the numbers of macrophages and lipids in plaques were lower in the HFD + iPSC-MSCs group than in the HFD group. Furthermore, iPSC-MSCs attenuated AS-associated inflammation by decreasing the levels of inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6, in serum. In addition, the expression of Notch1 was higher in the HFD group, and injecting iPSC-MSCs reversed this effect. In conclusion, the current study provides the first evidence indicating that iPSC-MSCs may be a new optional MSC-based strategy for treating AS.