Inflammatory Human Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Promote Stem Cell-Like Characteristics of Cancer Cells in an IL-1β-Dependent Manner

Figure 5

Inflammatory UC-MSCs secrete IL-1β in an autocrine manner and generate a prostemness niche via upregulating CCL2, CXCL1, IL-8, and IL-6. (a) Comparison of IL-1β concentration between MDA-MB-231 cell culture and 231-MSC coculture, and between IGROV1 cell culture and IGROV1-MSC coculture by ELISA assay. . (b) Relative expression level of IL-1β in MDA-MB-231 cells and UC-MSCs in 231-MSC coculture and in IGROV1 cells and UC-MSCs in IGROV1-MSC coculture. . (c) Expression levels of CCL2, CXCL1, IL-8, and IL-6 in UC-MSCs upon IL-1β treatment. . (d) Expression levels of pluripotency markers Sox2 and Oct4 in MDA-MB-231 and IGROV1 cells upon IL-1β treatment. (e) Relative expression level of IL-1β in UC-MSCs and MDA-MB-231 cells under coculturing compared to cells cultured alone. ; . (f) mRNA level of IL-1β upon IL-1β treatment in UC-MSCs and MDA-MB-231 cells. ; ns stands for nonsignificance. (g) Protein level of IL-1β upon IL-1β treatment in UC-MSCs. (h) Effects of IL-1RA on the expressions of Sox2 and KLF4 in MDA-MB-231 and IGROV1 cells under coculturing. ns, nonsignificance.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

(h)