Human Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells Display Anti-Cancer Activity in SCID Mice Bearing Disseminated Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Xenografts
Figure 4
The in vitro co-culture with MSC marginally affects lymphoma cell survival and promotes the release of angiogenic cytokines.
BJAB and SKW6.4 cells were cultured in the absence or presence of MSC, at a lymphoma∶MSC ratio of 10∶1. A, After 96 hours of culture, lymphoma cell apoptosis was analyzed by double Annexin V/PI staining. B, Culture supernatants were harvested from: SKW6.4 lymphoma cells alone, MSC alone, SKW6.4/MSC direct co-cultures and SKW6.4/MSC transwell co-cultures. The release of pro-angiogenic cytokines was assessed in the culture supernatants by using a proteome profiler human angiogenesis array. The circles on the membranes highlight four cytokines (angiogenin, IL-8, CCL2 and VEGF) released by MSC, which are significantly up-regulated by the concomitant presence of SKW6.4 cells. Similar results were obtained from three independent experiments and results from one of them are shown. The bar chart reports the results of the densitometric analyses of membranes. Abbreviations of the analyzed cytokines are defined in Table S1. Asterisk, p<0.05. C, Levels of IL-8 and VEGF were measured in the culture supernatants of the indicated cultures by ELISA. Data are reported as mean±SD of four independent experiments, each performed in duplicate. Asterisk, p<0.01.