Rat Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Adipose Tissue Reduce Bleomycin-Induced Lung Remodeling in Late Stage

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is progressive fibrosing interstitial pneumonia of unknown cause, chronic and incurable interstitial lung disease, associated with high mortality rates and unresponsive to treatments currently available. The prevalence of IPF is estimated at approximately 20/100,000 in men and 13/100,000 in women, and the mean age at the time of diagnosis is 67 years and the median survival is 2 to 5 years. Therapies available to date, proved, therefore, only palliative measures with doubtful or unsatisfactory result. Many experimental models of pulmonary fibrosis are described. Bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis is a widely used experimental model to identify and validate new therapeutic targets. We have induced pulmonary fibrosis by intratracheal bleomycin and late instillation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) from adipose tissue as a therapeutic proposal was used. MSC have the capacity to modulate inflammatory and immune response. Furthermore, the long-term effect of MSCs could also regulate and control to collagen deposition of the myofibroblasts, a final and pivo cell of pulmonary fibrosis. MSC from adipose tissue is an effective therapy to decrease collagen synthesis and expression in late stage of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis model, which may contribute to new therapeutic targets.