Leukemia inhibitory factor: Role in human mesenchymal stem cells mediated immunosuppression

The interactions between mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and immune system are currently being explored. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is linked to regulatory transplantation tolerance. Our aim was to study the expression of LIF on human MSCs at both gene and protein level in mixed lymphocyte reaction (MSC/MLR), and its implication in MSC immunosuppressive effect. There was a 7-fold increase (611 pg/ml) in LIF in MSC/MLR as compared to MSCs alone. Using LIF neutralizing antibody, a significant restoration of up to 91% of CD3+ lymphocyte proliferation in MSC/MLR was observed (p = 0.021). LIF was implicated in the generation of regulatory lymphocytes, as demonstrated by decrease of Foxp3+ regulatory cells after using LIF neutralizing antibody in MSC/MLR (p = 0.06) by flow cytometry. A positive correlation between LIF and human leukocyte antigen (HLA-G) gene expression by MSCs was found (R2 = 0.74). Our findings provide evidence supporting the immunomodulatory effect of MSCs.