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Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Stem Cells. Oct 26, 2026; 18(10): 125673
Published online Oct 26, 2026. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.125673
Soluble immunosuppressive checkpointome of mesenchymal stromal cells: Immunoregulatory mechanisms and a conceptual framework for potency assessment
Abdullah Salim Al-Karawi, Ali Saad Al-Budairi
Abdullah Salim Al-Karawi, Department of Microbiology, College of Science, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad 0011, Iraq
Ali Saad Al-Budairi, Branch of Biology, Department of Science, College of Basic Education, Wasit University, Kut 0011, Iraq
Author contributions: Al-Karawi AS conceived and designed the review, performed the literature search and evidence synthesis, prepared the figures and tables, and wrote the manuscript; Al-Budairi AS contributed to the literature search, the interpretation of the evidence and the critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final version.
AI contribution statement: The authors declare that no AI tools were used in the development or writing of this manuscript and take full responsibility for its integrity, accuracy, and originality.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Corresponding author: Abdullah Salim Al-Karawi, Researcher, Department of Microbiology, College of Science, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad 0011, Iraq. abdullah.s.shaker@uomustansiriyah.edu.iq
Received: July 15, 2026
Revised: September 7, 2026
Accepted: October 20, 2026
Published online: October 26, 2026
Processing time: 105 Days and 12 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Mesenchymal stromal cells release a defined set of soluble immune checkpoint proteins, notably soluble programmed death ligand 1 and 2, galectin-9, galectin-1 and the secreted human leukocyte antigen-G5 isoform. Treated separately until now, they are here proposed as a conceptual inducible module termed the soluble checkpointome. Because its abundance rises with inflammatory licensing and tracks with suppressive capacity, it offers a licensed, cell-free, multi-analyte panel well suited to the potency assays regulators require, and amenable to composite scoring supported by machine learning.

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