Pericytes Promote More Vascularization than Stromal Cells via an Interleukin-6-Dependent Mechanism in Microfluidic Chips

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)

Pericytes are a key player in vascularization, protecting endothelial cells from external harm and promoting the formation of new vessels when necessary. However, pericytic identity and its relationship with other cell types, such as mesenchymal stromal/stem cells, is highly debated. This study compares the role of pericytes and unselected stromal cells in vascularization using multichannel microfluidic chips. In both angiogenesis and vasculogenesis, pericytes promote more vessel formation than stromal cells. Pericytes can wrap around endothelial vessels acting as mural cells, while stromal cells remain separated. Whole-transcriptome sequencing confirms an upregulation of pro-vascularization genes in endothelial cell-pericyte co-cultures, while metabolism increases and inflammation decreases in stromal cell co-cultures. Treatment of stromal-endothelial cell co-cultures with either conditioned media or isolated extracellular vesicles from pericytes replicates the increase in vasculogenesis of the direct co-cultures. Cytokine quantification reveals that interleukin 6 (IL-6) is significantly increased in pericyte conditions. Blocking it with siltuximab results in a reduction of pericyte vasculogenic potential comparable to stromal cell levels, revealing that pericyte pro-vascularization is mediated by IL-6. This study provides new insights into the relationship between pericytes a

Evidence level

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

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