Opinion Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Jul 26, 2023; 15(7): 654-664
Published online Jul 26, 2023. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v15.i7.654
Could extracellular vesicles derived from mesenchymal stem cells be a potential therapy for acute pancreatitis-induced cardiac injury?
Long-Fei Pan, Ze-Qun Niu, Song Ren, Hong-Hong Pei, Yan-Xia Gao, Hui Feng, Jiang-Li Sun, Zheng-Liang Zhang
Long-Fei Pan, Ze-Qun Niu, Hong-Hong Pei, Yan-Xia Gao, Hui Feng, Jiang-Li Sun, Zheng-Liang Zhang, Emergency Department, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China
Song Ren, Department of Geriatric Digestive Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China
Author contributions: Pan LF designed, reviewed, and was responsible for the manuscript; Pan LF and Niu ZQ wrote and revised the manuscript; Niu ZQ, Ren S, Pei HH, Gao YX, Feng H, Sun JL, and Zhang ZL conducted literature searches; and all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Supported by the Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi Province, China, No. 2021JM-284; Health Research Projects of Shaanxi Province, China, No. 2021A010; and Science and Technology Planning Project of Xi’an, China, No. 22YXYJ0111.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that the research was conducted without any commercial or financial relationships that could be perceived as potential conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Long-Fei Pan, MD, Associate Chief Physician, Associate Professor, Emergency Department, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 157 Xiwu Road, Xincheng District, Xi’an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China. panlonf@yeah.net
Received: April 27, 2023
Peer-review started: April 27, 2023
First decision: May 19, 2023
Revised: June 11, 2023
Accepted: June 27, 2023
Article in press: June 27, 2023
Published online: July 26, 2023
Abstract

Acute pancreatitis (AP) often leads to a high incidence of cardiac injury, posing significant challenges in the treatment of severe AP and contributing to increased mortality rates. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) release bioactive molecules that participate in various inflammatory diseases. Similarly, extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted by MSCs have garnered extensive attention due to their comparable anti-inflammatory effects to MSCs and their potential to avoid risks associated with cell transplantation. Recently, the therapeutic potential of MSCs-EVs in various inflammatory diseases, including sepsis and AP, has gained increasing recognition. Although preclinical research on the utilization of MSCs-EVs in AP-induced cardiac injury is limited, several studies have demonstrated the positive effects of MSCs-EVs in regulating inflammation and immunity in sepsis-induced cardiac injury and cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, clinical studies have been conducted on the therapeutic application of MSCs-EVs for some other diseases, wherein the contents of these EVs could be deliberately modified through prior modulation of MSCs. Consequently, we hypothesize that MSCs-EVs hold promise as a potential therapy for AP-induced cardiac injury. This paper aims to discuss this topic. However, additional research is essential to comprehensively elucidate the underlying mechanisms of MSCs-EVs in treating AP-induced cardiac injury, as well as to ascertain their safety and efficacy.

Keywords: Acute pancreatitis, Cardiac injury, Mesenchymal stem cells, Extracellular vesicles, Inflammation, Therapeutic strategies

Core Tip: Acute pancreatitis (AP) often causes cardiac injury, leading to poor prognosis. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their extracellular vesicles (EVs) possess anti-inflammatory properties and have been studied as a potential therapy for inflammatory diseases. Although preclinical studies on the use of MSCs-EVs for AP-induced cardiac injury are lacking, research has demonstrated their positive effects in various inflammatory diseases such as sepsis-induced cardiac injury and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, MSCs-EVs may represent a promising strategy for treating AP-induced cardiac injury.