Javier García Casado, Scientific Director of NANBIOSIS Unit 14: Cell therapy toguether with other Scientists of NANBIOSIS and CCMIJU have issued the first report describing the beneficial effect of human EV-endMSCs on embryo development, which has been recently published by PloS One: “Murine embryos exposed to human endometrial MSCs-derived extracellular vesicles exhibit higher VEGF/PDGF AA release, increased blastomere count and hatching rates“. The results could be relevant for assisted reproduction:
“Endometrial Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (endMSCs) are multipotent cells with immunomodulatory and pro-regenerative activity which is mainly mediated by a paracrine effect. The exosomes released by MSCs have become a promising therapeutic tool for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases. More specifically, extracellular vesicles derived from endMSCs (EV-endMSCs) have demonstrated a cardioprotective effect through the release of anti-apoptotic and pro-angiogenic factors. Here we hypothesize that EV-endMSCs may be used as a co-adjuvant to improve in vitro fertilization outcomes and embryo quality. Firstly, endMSCs and EV-endMSCs were isolated and phenotypically characterized for in vitro assays. Then, in vitro studies were performed on murine embryos co-cultured with EV-endMSCs at different concentrations. Our results firstly demonstrated a significant increase on the total blastomere count of expanded murine blastocysts. Moreover, EV-endMSCs triggered the release of pro-angiogenic molecules from embryos demonstrating an EV-endMSCs concentration-dependent increase of VEGF and PDGF-AA. The release of VEGF and PDGF-AA by the embryos may indicate that the beneficial effect of EV-endMSCs could be mediating not only an increase in the blastocyst’s total cell number, but also may promote endometrial angiogenesis, vascularization, differentiation and tissue remodeling”.
Soluble factors were analyzed by the ICTS Nanbiosis (Unit 14. Cell therapy at CCMIJU). Maintenance of animals was performed by the ICTS Nanbiosis (Unit 22. Animal housing at CCMIJU). In vivo embryo recovery and culture was performed by the ICTS Nanbiosis (Unit 23. Assisted Reproduction at CCMIJU)
Article of reference:
Blázquez R, Sánchez-Margallo FM, Álvarez V, Matilla E, Hernández N, Marinaro F, Gómez-Serrano M, Jorge I, Casado JG, Macías-García B. “Murine embryos exposed to human endometrial MSCs-derived extracellular vesicles exhibit higher VEGF/PDGF AA release, increased blastomere count and hatching rates”. PLoS One (2018-04; vol. 13(4))