Autoantibodies neutralizing type I IFNs underlie severe tick-borne encephalitis in ∼10% of patients.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus (TBEV) is transmitted to humans via tick bites. Infection is benign in >90% of the cases but can cause mild (<5%), moderate (<4%), or severe (<1%) encephalitis. We show here that ∼10% of patients hospitalized for severe TBE in cohorts from Austria, Czech Republic, and France carry auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-α2, -ß, and/or -ω at the onset of disease, contrasting with only ∼1% of patients with moderate and mild TBE. These auto-Abs were found in two of eight patients who died and none of 13 with silent infection. The odds ratios (OR) for severe TBE in individuals with these auto-Abs relative to those without them in the general population were 4.9 (95% CI: 1.5-15.9, P < 0.0001) for the neutralization of only 100 pg/ml IFN-α2 and/or -ω, and 20.8 (95% CI: 4.5-97.4, P < 0.0001) for the neutralization of 10 ng/ml IFN-α2 and -ω. Auto-Abs neutralizing type I IFNs accounted for ∼10% of severe TBE cases in these three European cohorts.

Short-term, long-term and paracrine effect of human umbilical cord-derived stem cells in lung injury prevention and repair in experimental bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

BACKGROUND: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) remains a main complication of extreme prematurity and currently lacks efficient treatment. Rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) prevent lung injury in an oxygen-induced model of BPD. Human cord is an advantageous source of stem cells that is especially appealing for the treatment of neonatal diseases. The therapeutic benefit after established lung injury and long-term safety of cord-derived stem cells is unknown. METHODS: Human cord-derived perivascular cells (PCs) or cord blood-derived MSCs were delivered prophylactically or after established alveolar injury into the airways of newborn rats exposed to hyperoxia, a well-established BPD model. RESULTS: Rat pups exposed to hyperoxia showed the characteristic arrest in alveolar growth with air space enlargement and loss of lung capillaries. PCs and MSCs partially prevented and rescued lung function and structure. Despite therapeutic benefit, cell engraftment was low, suggesting that PCs and MSCs act via a paracrine effect. Accordingly, cell free-derived conditioned media from PCs and MSCs also exerted therapeutic benefit when used either prophylactically or therapeutically. Finally, long-term (6 months) assessment of stem cell or conditioned media therapy showed no adverse lung effects of either strategy, with persistent improvement in exercise capacity and lung structure. CONCLUSIONS: Human umbilical cord-derived PCs and MSCs exert short- and long-term therapeutic benefit without adverse lung effects in this experimental model and offer new therapeutic options for lung diseases characterised by alveolar damage.

Stem cell conditioned medium improves acute lung injury in mice: in vivo evidence for stem cell paracrine action.

Mortality and morbidity of acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome remain high because of the lack of pharmacological therapies to prevent injury or promote repair. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) prevent lung injury in various experimental models, despite a low proportion of donor-derived cell engraftment, suggesting that MSCs exert their beneficial effects via paracrine mechanisms. We hypothesized that soluble factors secreted by MSCs promote the resolution of lung injury in part by modulating alveolar macrophage (AM) function. We tested the therapeutic effect of MSC-derived conditioned medium (CdM) compared with whole MSCs, lung fibroblasts, and fibroblast-CdM. Intratracheal MSCs and MSC-CdM significantly attenuated lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced lung neutrophil influx, lung edema, and lung injury as assessed by an established lung injury score. MSC-CdM increased arginase-1 activity and Ym1 expression in LPS-exposed AMs. In vivo, AMs from LPS-MSC and LPS-MSC CdM lungs had enhanced expression of Ym1 and decreased expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase compared with untreated LPS mice. This suggests that MSC-CdM promotes alternative macrophage activation to an M2 "healer" phenotype. Comparative multiplex analysis of MSC- and fibroblast-CdM demonstrated that MSC-CdM contained several factors that may confer therapeutic benefit, including insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I). Recombinant IGF-I partially reproduced the lung protective effect of MSC-CdM. In summary, MSCs act through a paracrine activity. MSC-CdM promotes the resolution of LPS-induced lung injury by attenuating lung inflammation and promoting a wound healing/anti-inflammatory M2 macrophage phenotype in part via IGF-I.

Differentiation and migration properties of human foetal umbilical cord perivascular cells: potential for lung repair.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have been derived from different cultured human tissues, including bone marrow, adipose tissue, amniotic fluid and umbilical cord blood. Only recently it was suggested that MSC descended from perivascular cells, the latter being defined as CD146⁺ neuro-glial proteoglycan (NG)2⁺ platelet-derived growth factor-Rß⁺ ALP⁺ CD34⁻ CD45⁻ von Willebrand factor (vWF)⁻ CD144⁻. Herein we studied the properties of perivascular cells from a novel source, the foetal human umbilical cord (HUC) collected from pre-term newborns. By immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry we show that pre-term/foetal HUCs contain more perivascular cells than their full-term counterparts (2.5%versus 0.15%). Moreover, foetal HUC perivascular cells (HUCPC) express the embryonic cell markers specific embryonic antigen-4, Runx1 and Oct-4 and can be cultured over the long term. To further confirm the MSC identity of these cultured perivascular cells, we also showed their expression at different passages of antigens that typify MSC. The multilineage differentiative capacity of HUCPC into osteogenic, adipogenic and myogenic cell lineages was demonstrated in culture. In the perspective of a therapeutic application in chronic lung disease of pre-term newborns, we demonstrated the in vitro ability of HUCPC to migrate towards an alveolar type II cell line damaged with bleomycin, an anti-cancer agent with known pulmonary toxicity. The secretory profile exhibited by foetal HUCPC in the migration assay suggested a paracrine effect that could be exploited in various clinical conditions including lung disorders.

DNA microarray reveals novel genes induced by mechanical forces in fetal lung type II epithelial cells.

Mechanical forces are essential for normal fetal lung development. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating this process are still poorly defined. In this study, we used oligonucleotide microarrays to investigate gene expression in cultured embryonic d 19 rat fetal lung type II epithelial cells exposed to a level of mechanical strain similar to the developing lung. Significance Analysis of Microarrays (SAM) identified 92 genes differentially expressed by strain. Interestingly, several members of the solute carrier family of amino acid transporter (Slc7a1, Slc7a3, Slc6a9, and tumor-associated protein 1) genes involved in amino acid synthesis (Phgdh, Psat1, Psph, Cars, and Asns), as well as the amiloride-sensitive epithelial sodium channel gene (Scnn1a) were up-regulated by the application of force. These results were confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Thus, this study identifies genes induced by strain that may be important for amino acid signaling pathways and protein synthesis in fetal type II cells. In addition, these data suggest that mechanical forces may contribute to facilitate lung fluid reabsorption in preparation for birth. Taken together, the present investigation provides further insights into how mechanical forces may modulate fetal lung development.