Differences and similarities between mesenchymal stem cell and endothelial progenitor cell immunoregulatory properties against T cells

Figure 2 A comparison between immunoregulatory functions of mesenchymal stem cells and endothelial progenitor cells. According to our evaluations, among the four cell types [fetal liver (FL) derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), bone marrow-derived (BM)-MSCs, cord blood-derived (CB)-endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), and adult peripheral blood-derived (APB)-EPCs]. Fetal liver-derived (FL)-MSCs are the most immunomodulatory cells because they: (1) suppress T cell proliferation; (2) decrease T cell activation phenotype; and (3) decrease T cell secretion of proinflammatory cytokines. On the other hand, they could more efficiently increase: (1) the secretion of anti-inflammatory cytokine; and (2) the induction of regulatory T cells (Tregs) more than the other cells. Therefore, we have considered FL-MSCs as the reference (5/5 blue points) regarding the measured criteria and compared the capacity of the other cells with them. In the case of CB-EPCs and APB-EPCs, because we did not notice any Treg induction or elevation of anti-inflammatory cytokine secretion we attributed a 0/5 score. Blue circles represent elevated levels while white circles represent the absence of the effect.