Dual-functionalized mesenchymal stem cells that express CX3CR1 and IL-25 exhibit enhanced therapeutic effects on inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown great promise in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) treatment owing to their immunosuppressive capabilities, but their therapeutic effectiveness is sometimes thwarted by their low efficiency in entering the inflamed colon and variable immunomodulatory ability in vivo. Here, we demonstrated a new methodology to manipulate MSCs to express CX3C chemokine receptor 1 (CX3CR1) and interleukin-25 (IL-25) to promote their delivery to the inflamed colon and enhance their immunosuppressive capability. Compared to MSCs without treatment, MSCs infected with a lentivirus (LV) encoding CX3CR1 and IL-25 (CX3CR1&IL-25-LV-MSCs) exhibited enhanced targeting to the inflamed colon and could further move into extravascular space of the colon tissues via trans-endothelial migration in dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-challenged mice after MSC intravenous injection. The administration of the CX3CR1&IL-25-LV-MSCs achieved a better therapeutic effect than that of the untreated MSCs, as indicated by pathological indices and inflammatory markers. Antibody blocking studies indicated that the enhanced therapeutic effects of dual-functionalized MSCs were dependent on CX3CR1 and IL-25 function. Overall, this strategy, which is based on enhancing the homing and immunosuppressive abilities of MSCs, represents a promising therapeutic approach that may be valuable in IBD therapy.