Conditioned media from human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells and umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells efficiently induced the apoptosis and differentiation in human glioma cell lines in vitro.

Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have an intrinsic property for homing towards tumor sites and can be used as tumor-tropic vectors for tumor therapy. But very limited studies investigated the antitumor properties of MSCs themselves. In this study we investigated the antiglioma properties of two easily accessible MSCs, namely, human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASCs) and umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs). We found (1) MSC conditioned media can significantly inhibit the growth of human U251 glioma cell line; (2) MSC conditioned media can significantly induce apoptosis in human U251 cell line; (3) real-time PCR experiments showed significant upregulation of apoptotic genes of both caspase-3 and caspase-9 and significant downregulation of antiapoptotic genes such as survivin and XIAP after MSC conditioned media induction in U 251 cells; (4) furthermore, MSCs conditioned media culture induced rapid and complete differentiation in U251 cells. These results indicate MSCs can efficiently induce both apoptosis and differentiation in U251 human glioma cell line. Whereas UC-MSCs are more efficient for apoptosis induction than ASCs, their capability of differentiation induction is not distinguishable from each other. Our findings suggest MSCs themselves have favorable antitumor characteristics and should be further explored in future glioma therapy.