CCR2-overexpressing mesenchymal stem cells targeting damaged liver enhance recovery of acute liver failure

BACKGROUND: Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) transplantation is emerging as a promising cell therapeutic strategy in acute liver failure (ALF) clinical research. The potency of MSCs to migrate and engraft into targeted lesions could largely determine their clinical efficacy, in which chemokine/receptor axes play a crucial role. Unfortunately, the downregulation of chemokine receptors expression after in vitro expansion results in a poor homing capacity of MSCs. METHODS: By evaluating the chemokine expression profile in the liver of ALF patients and ALF mice, we found that CCL2 expression was highly upregulated in damaged livers, while the corresponding receptor, CCR2, was lacking in cultured MSCs. Thus, we genetically modified MSCs to overexpress CCR2 and investigated the targeted homing capacity and treatment efficacy of MSC(CCR2) compared to those of the MSC(vector) control. RESULTS: In vivo and ex vivo near-infrared fluorescence imaging showed that MSC(CCR2) rapidly migrated and localized to injured livers in remarkably greater numbers following systemic infusion, and these cells were retained in liver lesions for a longer time than MSC(vector). Furthermore, MSC(CCR2) exhibited significantly enhanced efficacy in the treatment of ALF in mice, which was indicated by a dramatically improved survival rate, the alleviation of liver injury with reduced inflammatory infiltration and hepatic apoptosis, and the promotion of liver regeneration. CONCLUSIONS: Altogether, these results indicate that CCR2 overexpression enhances the targeted migration of MSCs to damaged livers, improves their treatment effect, and may provide a novel strategy for improving the efficacy of cell therapy for ALF. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13287-022-02729-y.