Mesenchymal stem cells and serelaxin synergistically abrogate established airway fibrosis in an experimental model of chronic allergic airways disease

Abstract This study determined if the anti-fibrotic drug, serelaxin (RLN), could augment human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-mediated reversal of airway remodeling and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) associated with chronic allergic airways disease (AAD/asthma). Female Balb/c mice subjected to the 9-week model of ovalbumin (OVA)-induced chronic AAD were either untreated or treated with MSCs alone, RLN alone or both combined from weeks 9–11. Changes in airway inflammation (AI), epithelial thickness, goblet cell metaplasia, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 expression, myofibroblast differentiation, subepithelial and total lung collagen deposition, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression, and AHR were then assessed. MSCs alone modestly reversed OVA-induced subepithelial and total collagen deposition, and increased MMP-9 levels above that induced by OVA alone (all p