Individual heterogeneity screened umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells with high Treg promotion demonstrate improved recovery of mouse liver fibrosis

BACKGROUND: To investigate the heterogeneities of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cells (HUCMSCs) derived from different donors and their therapeutic variations when applied to mouse liver fibrosis model. METHODS: The characteristics of HUCMSCs derived from multiple donors were comprehensively analyzed including expressions of surface markers, viability, growth curve, karyotype analysis, tumorigenicity, differentiation potentials, and immune regulation capability. Then, the HUCMSCs with distinct immunomodulatory effects were applied to treat mouse liver fibrosis and their therapeutic effects were observed. RESULTS: The HUCMSCs derived from multiple donors kept a high consistency in surface marker expressions, viability, growth curve, and tumorigenicity in nude mice but had robust heterogeneities in differentiation potentials and immune regulations. In addition, three HUCMSC lines applied to mice liver fibrosis model had different therapeutic outcomes, in line with individual immune regulation capability. CONCLUSION: The HUCMSCs derived from different donors have individual heterogeneity, which potentially lead to distinct therapeutic outcomes in mouse liver fibrosis, indicating we could make use of the donor-variation of MSCs to screen out guaranteed general indicators of MSCs for specific diseases in further stromal cell therapy. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13287-021-02430-6.