Tongxinluo-pretreated mesenchymal stem cells facilitate cardiac repair via exosomal transfer of miR-146a-5p targeting IRAK1/NF-κB p65 pathway

BACKGROUND: Bone marrow cells (BMCs), especially mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), have shown attractive application prospects in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, the weak efficacy becomes their main limitation in clinical translation. Based on the anti-inflammation and anti-apoptosis effects of a Chinese medicine-Tongxinluo (TXL), we aimed to explore the effects of TXL-pretreated MSCs (MSCs(TXL)) in enhancing cardiac repair and further investigated the underlying mechanism. METHODS: MSCs(TXL) or MSCs and the derived exosomes (MSCs(TXL)-exo or MSCs-exo) were collected and injected into the infarct zone of rat hearts. In vivo, the anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammation effects, and cardiac functional and histological recovery were evaluated. In vitro, the apoptosis was evaluated by western blotting and flow cytometry. miRNA sequencing was utilized to identify the significant differentially expressed miRNAs between MSCs(TXL)-exo and MSCs-exo, and the miRNA mimics and inhibitors were applied to explore the specific mechanism. RESULTS: Compared to MSCs, MSCs(TXL) enhanced cardiac repair with reduced cardiomyocytes apoptosis and inflammation at the early stage of AMI and significantly improved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) with reduced infarct size in an exosome-dependent way. Similarly, MSCs(TXL)-exo exerted superior therapeutic effects in anti-apoptosis and anti-inflammation, as well as improving LVEF and reducing infarct size compared to MSCs-exo. Further exosomal miRNA analysis demonstrated that miR-146a-5p was the candidate effector of the superior effects of MSCs(TXL)-exo. Besides, miR-146a-5p targeted and decreased IRAK1, which inhibited the nuclear translocation of NF-κB p65 thus protecting H9C2 cells from hypoxia injury. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggested that MSCs(TXL) markedly facilitated cardiac repair via a new mechanism of the exosomal transfer of miR-146a-5p targeting IRAK1/NF-κB p65 pathway, which has great potential for clinical translation. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13287-022-02969-y.