Human lung-derived mesenchymal stem cell-conditioned medium exerts in vitro antitumor effects in malignant pleural mesothelioma cell lines

Our plain-English summary of Human lung-derived mesenchymal stem cell-conditioned medium exerts in vitro antitumor effects in malignant pleural mesothelioma cell lines, by L. Cortes-Dericks, L. Froment, G. Kocher, et al (Stem Cell Research & Therapy, 2016).

The study

• Authors: L. Cortes-Dericks, L. Froment, G. Kocher, R.A. Schmid
• Journal: Stem Cell Research & Therapy
• Published: 2016;7:25
• Cited by: 23 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Background: The soluble factors secreted by mesenchymal stem cells are thought to either support or inhibit tumor growth. Herein, we investigated whether the human lung-derived mesenchymal stem cell-conditioned medium (hlMSC-CM) exerts antitumor activity in malignant pleural mesothelioma cell lines H28, H2052 and Meso4.

Methods: hlMSC-CM was collected from the human lung-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Inhibition of tumor cell growth was based on the reduction of cell viability and inhibition of cell proliferation using the XTT and BrdU assays, respectively. Elimination of tumor spheroids was assessed by the anchorage-independent sphere formation assay. The cytokine profile of hlMSC-CM was determined by a chemiluminescence-based cytokine array.

Results: Our data showed that hlMSC-CM contains a broad range of soluble factors which include: cytokines, chemokines, hormones, growth and angiogenic factors, matrix metalloproteinases, metalloproteinase inhibitors and cell-cell mediator proteins. The 48- and 72-hour hlMSC-CM treatments of H28, H2052 and Meso4 cell lines elicited significant decreases in cell viability and inhibited cell proliferation. The 72-hour hlMSC-CM incubation of H28 cells completely eliminated the drug-resistant sphere-forming cells, which is more potent than twice the half maximal inhibitory concentration of cisplatin.

Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the cell-free hlMSC-CM confers in vitro antitumor activities via soluble factors in the tested mesothelioma cells and, hence, may serve as a therapeutic tool to augment the current treatment strategies in malignant pleural mesothelioma.

In plain English

This short report described a laboratory experiment on cancer cell lines grown in dishes. It did not involve patients and did not study asbestos exposure. The authors, at University Hospital Berne in Switzerland, collected the liquid in which mesenchymal stem cells from human lung tissue had been grown (the conditioned medium). They applied it to three malignant pleural mesothelioma cell lines: H28, H2052 and Meso4. The liquid contained a broad range of signalling substances. Compared with untreated cells, it significantly reduced cell growth after 48 and 72 hours, for example by 74% and 76% in H28 and by 35% and 55% in Meso4. It also reduced cell viability, by 69% and 81% in H28 and by 25% and 25.3% in H2052. In H28 cells it reduced drug-resistant cell clusters called spheres and fully eliminated them after 72 hours. This was not seen in H2052 or Meso4. In H28, cisplatin at twice its half maximal inhibitory concentration reduced spheres by 68% and 73%. The authors concluded the liquid may help augment mesothelioma treatment. They said the active substances still need identifying.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Laboratory (in vitro) experiment on cancer cell lines, published as a short report
• Who was studied: Three malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) cell lines: H28 and H2052 (from LCD Promochem, France) and ACC-Meso-4 (from Riken Cell Bank, Japan). Research was done at University Hospital Berne, Switzerland. No patients were studied.
• Exposure: No asbestos exposure was studied. The cells were treated with undiluted conditioned medium collected from human lung-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hlMSC-CM) for 48 and 72 hours. In H28 cells it was compared with cisplatin at its half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) and at twice the IC50.
• Main results:
  • The conditioned medium contained a broad range of soluble factors, including cytokines, chemokines, hormones, growth and angiogenic factors, matrix metalloproteinases, metalloproteinase inhibitors and cell–cell mediator proteins
  • H28 cell proliferation fell by 74% at 48 hours and by 76% at 72 hours relative to untreated cells
  • H2052 cell proliferation fell by 62% at 48 hours and by 64% at 72 hours. Meso4 cell proliferation fell by 35% at 48 hours and by 55% at 72 hours.
  • H28 cell viability fell by 69% at 48 hours and by 81% at 72 hours compared with untreated cells
  • H2052 cell viability fell by 25% at 48 hours and by 25.3% at 72 hours
  • Meso4 cell viability fell by 26.3% at 48 hours and by 31% at 72 hours
  • In H28 cells, the conditioned medium reduced sphere-forming efficiency by 70% after 48 hours and fully eliminated sphere-forming cells after 72 hours
  • The sphere-eliminating effects were not seen in the H2052 and Meso4 cell lines
  • In the comparison experiment in H28 cells, the conditioned medium reduced sphere-forming efficiency by 74% at 48 hours and completely eliminated spheres at 72 hours
  • In H28 cells, cisplatin at the IC50 reduced sphere efficiency by 50% after both 48 and 72 hours
  • In H28 cells, cisplatin at twice the IC50 reduced sphere efficiency by 68% at 48 hours and by 73% at 72 hours
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the conditioned medium exerts in vitro antitumor effects in the three MPM cell lines via soluble factors. They said this offers a potentially useful tool to augment standard MPM therapy.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The specific factors responsible for the antitumor effect were not identified and need further investigation

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Lung cancer, Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: STEM, Pleural Mesothelioma, Cytokine, Cisplatin, Mesothelioma.

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