TGF-βl Suppresses Inflammation in Cell Therapy for Intervertebral Disc Degeneration

Recent studies suggest that cell therapy may be an effective way to repair intervertebral disc degeneration. As a strong immune suppressor, TGF-beta 1 has been shown to inhibit inflammation respond effectively. The objective of this study was to explore the effects of TGF-beta 1 during bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells-based therapy for disc degeneration. In vitro assays demonstrated that co-culturing of nucleus pulposus cells with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells resulted in significantly higher levels of TGF-beta l secretion. This increase inhibited I kappa B phosphorylation and NF-kappa B activation, detected by western blot analysis. Meanwhile, in a rabbit model, MRI analysis revealed significant recovery of signal intensity in the degenerative discs of rabbits receiving cells transplantation, than receiving cells treated with a TGF-beta 1 inhibitor or saline. These findings indicated that enhanced TGF-beta 1 production recovered the degeneration of intervertebral disc. And also immunohistochemical staining detected enhanced collagen II expression in the rabbits treated with cell transplantation. However, the NF-kappa B positive cells were significantly less than other two control groups. Thus, cell therapy promoted TGF-beta 1 expression in nucleus pulposus, leading to anti-inflammatory effects via the inhibition of NF-kappa B, and the amelioration of disc degradation due to increased expression of collagen II and aggrecan in degenerative intervertebral disc.