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. 2025 Feb;63(1):378-392.
doi: 10.1007/s10528-024-10724-6. Epub 2024 Mar 5.

Adipose Tissue and Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells are not Really the Same: Investigating the Differences in Their Immunomodulatory, Migratory, and Adhesive Profile

Ejlal Abu-El-Rub  1 , Ramada R Khaswaneh  2 , Fatimah A Almahasneh  1 , Rawan Almazari  1 , Ayman Alzu'bi  1
Affiliations

Adipose Tissue and Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells are not Really the Same: Investigating the Differences in Their Immunomodulatory, Migratory, and Adhesive Profile

Ejlal Abu-El-Rub et al. Biochem Genet. 2025 Feb.

Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are the most widely used stem cells in regenerative medicine. They can be isolated from multiple sources, most commonly bone marrow and adipose tissue. MSCs derived from different sources show similar molecular and biological characteristics, but there is ongoing debate regarding the best source of MSCs and the potential biological differences between MSCs from different origins. Bone marrow derived-MSCs (BM-MSCs) and adipose tissue-derived MSCs (AD-MSCs) share many molecular and immunomodulatory properties. In this study, we compared the levels of major immunomodulatory, adhesive, and migratory factors in human BM-MSCs and AD-MSCs under normal conditions, which will help determine the suitability and specificity of each type for certain therapeutic applications. WST1 assay and fluorescent assay SUC-LLVY-AMC were used to measure MSC proliferation and 26S proteasome activity, respectively. Western blotting, ELISA Assays, and bright field live imaging were also used. AD-MSCs and BM-MSCs exhibited similar morphology and proliferation rate. A significantly higher 26S proteasome activity was detected in AD-MSCs than in BM-MSCs. Levels of ICAM-1, integrin α5 and integrin α6 were significantly higher in AD-MSCs compared to BM-MSCs, while no significant difference in CXCR4 levels was observed. Expression of IDO and factor H was significantly higher in AD-MSCs, while CTLA-4 and IL-10 levels were higher in BM-MSCs. This indicates that AD-MSCs and BM-MSCs have different immunomodulatory and adhesion profiles. MSCs isolated from different sources may show differences in their biological and immunomodulatory properties, suggesting a potential suitability of certain MSCs type for specific conditions. Also, combination of different MSCs types could help optimize therapeutic outcomes.

Keywords: 26S proteasome; Adhesion; Adipose tissue-derived MSCs; Bone-marrow MSCs; Immunomodulation; Migration.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests. Ethical Approval: The ethical approval was not needed in this study. The human cell lines used for this study were commercially purchased.

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