Extracellular Vesicles Derived from Adipose Stem Cells Alleviate Systemic Sclerosis by Inhibiting TGF-β Pathway.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease characterized by inflammatory reactions and fibrosis. Myofibroblasts are considered therapeutic targets for preventing and reversing the pathogenesis of fibrosis in systemic sclerosis. Although the mechanisms that differentiate into myofibroblasts are diverse, transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) is known to be a key mediator of fibrosis in systemic sclerosis. This study investigated the effects of extracellular vesicles derived from human adipose stem cells (ASC-EVs) in an in vivo systemic sclerosis model and in vitro TGF-β1-induced dermal fibroblasts. The therapeutic effects of ASC-EVs on the in vivo systemic sclerosis model were evaluated based on dermal thickness and the number of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA)-expressing cells using hematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemistry. Administration of ASC-EVs decreased both the dermal thickness and α-SMA expressing cell number as well as the mRNA levels of fibrotic genes, such as Acta2, Ccn2, Col1a1 and Comp. Additionally, we discovered that ASC-EVs can decrease the expression of α-SMA and CTGF and suppress the TGF-β pathway by inhibiting the activation of SMAD2 in dermal fibroblasts induced by TGF-β1. Finally, TGF-β1-induced dermal fibroblasts underwent selective death through ASC-EVs treatment. These results indicate that ASC-EVs could provide a therapeutic approach for pre

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

Browse all related research

Filter the research library by this study's title keywords, author, or publication year.