New immune regulation strategy in the age of regenerative medicine using pluripotent stem cells

Abstract

Recent progress of manipulating pluripotent stem cells expands possibilities of regenerative medicine and opens novel transplantation medicine. However, in many cases of these medicines, the relationship between therapeutic cells and recipients would be allogeneic. In this context, we proposed new concept of immune regulation therapy in new-age medicine using pluripotent stem cells. In our concept, not only grafts but also immune regulating cells are generated from pluripotent stem cells by exertion of its pluripotency. We have recently developed immune suppressive macrophage-like cells from pluripotent stem cells. These cells suppressed allo-antigen stimulated T cell proliferation in an iNOS dependent manner. Furthermore, these immune suppressive macrophage-like cells derived from pluripotent stem cells prolonged survival of grafts derived from same pluripotent stem cells in allogeneic recipients. Thus, series of our study proved the efficacy of our new immune regulating strategy in the age of regenerative medicine which utilize pluripotent stem cells as a therapeutic cell source.