Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Jun 26, 2025; 17(6): 106488
Published online Jun 26, 2025. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v17.i6.106488
Mesenchymal stem cells-derived exosomes alleviate radiation induced pulmonary fibrosis by inhibiting the protein kinase B/nuclear factor kappa B pathway
Li-Li Wang, Ming-Yue Ouyang, Zi-En Yang, Si-Ning Xing, Song Zhao, Hui-Ying Yu
Li-Li Wang, Ming-Yue Ouyang, Zi-En Yang, Si-Ning Xing, Song Zhao, Hui-Ying Yu, Laboratory of Basic Medicine, General Hospital of Northern Theater Command, Shenyang 110016, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Wang LL and Yu HY designed the experiments; Wang LL, Ouyang MY, Yang ZE, Xing SN, and Zhao S performed the experiments; Wang LL, Ouyang MY, and Yang ZE analyzed the experiment data and wrote this manuscript; Yu HY reviewed the manuscript and supervised all the work. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province, No. 2024-MS-250.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Northern Theater Command General Hospital Ethics Committee [approval number: Y(2024)100].
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All animal care and experimental procedures followed the National Research Council’s Guidelines for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and were approved by the Northern Theater Command General Hospital Ethics Committee (approval number: 2023-25).
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Data sharing statement: The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
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: Hui-Ying Yu, PhD, Laboratory of Basic Medicine, General Hospital of Northern Theater Command, No. 83 Wenhua Road, Shenyang 110016, Liaoning Province, China. hyingy@sina.com
Received: February 28, 2025
Revised: April 14, 2025
Accepted: May 28, 2025
Published online: June 26, 2025
Processing time: 118 Days and 8 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Mesenchymal stem cells-derived exosomes were demonstrated protective properties against radiation induced pulmonary fibrosis in rat models and lung epithelial cell models. Moreover, these exosomes were shown to reverse the expression of key components involved in the buildup of extracellular matrix and epithelial-mesenchymal transition due to radiation by inhibiting the protein kinase B/nuclear factor kappa B pathway. This inhibition prevented fibrosis progression and facilitated the recovery and proliferation of damaged lung epithelial cells. These findings offer new insights into potential treatment strategies for radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis.