Inhibition of growth of Asian keloid cells with human umbilical cord Wharton’s jelly stem cell-conditioned medium

Abstract

Abstract Background Keloid formation occurs in Caucasian, African, and Asian populations and is a severe psychosocial burden on patients. There is no permanent treatment for this problem as its pathogenesis is not properly understood. Furthermore, differences in keloid behavior between ethnic groups are not known. It has been hypothesized that keloids behave like benign tumors because of their uncontrolled growth. The present study evaluated the tumoricidal properties of human Wharton’s jelly stem cell-conditioned medium (hWJSC-CM) on fresh Asian keloid cells (AKCs). Methods Human Wharton’s jelly stem cells (hWJSCs) and AKCs were isolated based on our previous methods. hWJSCs and human skin fibroblasts (HSF) (controls) were used to collect hWJSC-CM and HSF-conditioned medium (HSF-CM). AKCs were treated with hWJSC-CM and HSF-CM in vitro and in vivo in a human keloid xenograft SCID mouse model. The inhibitory effect of hWJSC-CM on AKCs was tested in vitro using various assays and in vivo for attenuation/abrogation of AKC tumors created in a xenograft mouse model. Results qRT-PCR analysis showed that the genes FN1, MMP1, and VCAN were significantly upregulated in AKCs and ANXA1, ASPN, IGFBP7, LGALS1, and PTN downregulated. AKCs exposed to hWJSC-CM in vitro showed significant decreases in cell viability and proliferation, increases in Annexin V-FITC+ cell numbers, interruptions of the cell cycle at Sub-G1 and G2/M phases, altered CD marker expression, downregulated anti-apoptotic-related genes, and upregulated pro-apoptotic and autophagy-related genes compared to controls. When AKCs were administered together with hWJSC-CM into immunodeficient mice there were no keloid tumors formed in 7 mice (n = 10) compared to the untreated control mice. When hWJSC-CM was injected directly into keloid tumors created in mice there were significant reductions in keloid tumor volumes and weights in 30 days. Conclusions hWJSC-CM inhibited the growth of AKCs in vitro and in xenograft mice, and it may be a potential novel treatment for keloids in the human. The specific molecule(s) in hWJSC-CM that induce the anti-keloid effect need to be identified, characterized, and tested separately in larger preclinical and clinical studies.