Gene Expression Pattern of CCL2 in Patients with Refractory Rheumatoid Arthritis Who Received Autologous Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy

Background and Aim: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) differentiate intotissue types with mesodermal lineage such as chondrocyte, adipocyte,and osteocyte. Immunomodulatory and low immunogenicity of MSCs areunique properties which can be used for the treatment of many diseaseslike rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA is the autoimmune inflammatorydisease which various inflammatory mediators such as chemokines havea key role in its pathogenesis. Our aim was an evaluation of CCL2 geneexpression in RA patients before and six months after MSCs therapy.Methods: MSCs were derived from bone marrow of 13 refractory RApatients. These cells were cultivated and purified and then 1×106 cellsper kg of body weight were injected intravenously to the patients.Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated by Ficollgradient centrifugation and then, total RNA was extracted from PBMCsand cDNA synthesized. Gene expression of CCL2 was determined byemploying the SYBER Green Real-Time RT-PCR technique.Results: Relative gene expression of CCL2 was decreased after 6 monthscompared to the base line, however, this reduction was not significant(P=0.156).Conclusion: Our results provided evidence that CCL2 gene expressioncan be down-regulated but not significant, following MSC therapy in RApatients. However, for a better conclusion, we suggest to increase thesample size and also follow-ups.

کلیدواژه ها:

Rheumatoid arthritis ، CCL2 ، Mesenchymal stem cell