Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Conjugates

Targeted Delivery of Stem Cells
Here's a recent publication referencing use of our Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells to form conjugates that could have application for drug delivery and cell therapies: Yun Seop Kim, Won Ho Kong, Hyemin Kim, Sei Kwang Hahn. Targeted Systemic Mesenchymal Stem Cell Delivery Using Hyaluronate - Wheat Germ Agglutinin Conjugate. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2016.08.027

Images: Fluorescence microscopic images of dissected livers and lungs from normal rats 4 h after intravenous injection of PBS, WGA-FITC/hMSC, and HA-WGA-FITC/hMSC (Filter for FITC). (b) Quantification of hMSCs in dissected organs estimated from ROI (n = 3). **P versus the WGA/hMSC group. (c) Representative fluorescence microscopic images of WGA-FITC/hMSC and HA-WGA-FITC/hMSC in the liver and lung (green = FITC, blue = DAPI for nucleus). Arrows indicate the location of hMSCs (scale bar = 200 μm). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2016.08.027

Protocol: Cultured MSCs were trypsinized, washed, and resuspended at 1 × 106 cells/mL in PBS. HA-WGA conjugate at 10 μg/mL of WGA was added to MSCs in suspension, and incubated in an ice bath for 10 min with mild mixing. To remove the unbound HA-WGA conjugate to MSCs, cell suspension was washed with PBS and collected by centrifugation (1000 × g, 3 min at 4 °C). After surface modification with HA-WGA conjugate, HA-WGA/hMSC were resuspended in the cell culture medium on 96-well plates (1 × 104 cells per well). At the predetermined time, cell viability of HA-WGA/hMSC was measured using an EZ-cytox cell viability assay kit according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Zeta potentials were analyzed using a Zetasizer Nano (Malvern Instruments, UK) to assess the change of surface charge after the surface modification.
Conclusions: Researchers successfully developed a target-specific systemic delivery system of MSCs to the liver using HA-WGA conjugate. HA-WGA conjugate was synthesized by the coupling reaction of HA-aldehyde with amine group of WGA. GPC analysis revealed the successful synthesis of HA-WGA conjugate. CD analysis corroborated that the secondary structure of WGA remained stable even after conjugation to HA. HA-WGA conjugate appeared to bind to the surface of MSCs and remain stably for up to 1 h. After cell surface modification, most of HA-WGA/MSC complex could be systemically delivered to the liver 4 h after intravenous injection, whereas MSCs were trapped mainly in the lung. This new strategy to target-specifically deliver MSCs to the liver using HA-WGA conjugate might be successfully exploited for treatment of various liver diseases.

We will continue to post new applications developed by users of our Stem Cells.