Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Suppress Autophagy of T Cells in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus via Transfer of Mitochondria

Figure 8

Functional mitochondria were essential for UC-MSCs to regulate T cell autophagy. UC-MSCs labeled with MG were treated with chloroquine (CQ, 50 μM for 24 h) to block mitochondrial turnover. Then PBMCs were stimulated with anti-CD3/28 and cultured with CQ-treated UC-MSCs for 3 days. All experiments were performed in triplicate. (a) CQ treatment caused mitochondrial accumulation in UC-MSCs (). (b) UC-MSCs with accumulated mitochondria lost the ability to regulate T cell autophagy ().  .

(a)

(b)