Biological functions of lung cancer cells are suppressed in co-culture with mesenchymal stem cells isolated from umbilical cord

Stem cell-based therapy serves a key role in clinical treatments, and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been widely used in clinical tumor therapy trials. In the present study, MSCs were isolated from umbilical cord (UC) and co-cultured with the lung cancer cell line H1299. The effects of UC-derived MSCs (UCMSCs) on H1299 cell invasion and proliferation were evaluated using a Matrigel-based Transwell assay and CCK8 assay, respectively. Apoptosis and cell cycle progression among H1299 cells were detected by flow cytometry, and kinase expression in H1299 cells was detected by western blotting. The results indicated that UCMSCs significantly inhibited H1299 cell invasion and significantly induced apoptosis of H1299 cells, but exhibited no effect on H1299 cell proliferation and cell cycle progression. It was also identified that H1299 cell expression of key kinases (AKT, phosphoinositide 3-kinase, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 and mechanistic target of rapamycin) was significantly suppressed in the presence of UCMSCs. To the best of our knowledge, the present study demonstrates for the first time that UCMSCs have an anti-tumor effect against lung cancer cells, which may indicate that AKT/phosphoinositide 3-kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 signaling is important in the UCMSC-mediated regulation of H1299 cell functions.