Human Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells Exposed to an Inflammatory Environment Increase the Expression of ICAM-1 and Release Microvesicles Enriched in This Adhesive Molecule: Analysis of the Participation of TNF-α and IFN-γ

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (BM-MSCs) have immunoregulatory capacity; therefore, they have been used in different clinical protocols in which it is necessary to decrease the immune response. This capacity is mainly regulated by TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma, and it has been observed that cell-cell contact, mainly mediated by ICAM-1, is important for MSCs to carry out efficient immunoregulation. Therefore, in the present work, we analyzed the effect of TNF-alpha alone or in combination with IFN-gamma on the expression of ICAM-1. Besides, given the importance of cell contact in the immunoregulatory function of MSCs, we analyzed whether these cells release ICAM-1(+) microvesicles (MVs). Our results show for the first time that TNF-alpha is capable of increasing the early expression of ICAM-1 in human BM-MSCs. Also, we observed that TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma have a synergistic effect on the increase in the expression of ICAM-1. Furthermore, we found that BM-MSCs exposed to an inflammatory environment release MVs enriched in ICAM-1 (MVs-ICAM-1(high)). The knowledge generated in this study will contribute to the improvement of in vitro conditioning protocols that favor the therapeutic effect of these cells or their products.