Injecting Immune Cells Can Significantly Enhance the Healing of Bones Muscles and Skin

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Injecting Immune Cells Can Significantly Enhance the Healing of Bones Muscles and Skin

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Injecting Immune Cells Can Significantly Enhance the Healing of Bones Muscles and Skin

A new study has revealed that directly injecting regulatory T cells (Tregs), which control the body’s immune response, into damaged bones, muscles, and skin can significantly promote healing. This opens the door to developing a universal, cell-based approach to enhance post-injury recovery.

A study by the University of Cambridge in the UK challenges the conventional understanding of regulatory T cells (Tregs), suggesting that these active controllers of the body’s immune response could potentially be harnessed as a “universal treatment army” for almost any disease.

Now, researchers from the Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC) at Osaka University in Japan and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, have investigated this potential in a new study and found it to be true.

Mikaël Martino, an associate professor at Monash University and the study’s corresponding author, stated, “We began exploring the use of Tregs for regenerative medicine because they can directly influence other types of immune cells, namely monocytes and macrophages. Additionally, Tregs secrete signaling molecules that support tissue healing. Despite their strong potential, few studies have explored the application of Tregs in such contexts.”

Monocytes are a type of white blood cell responsible for fighting certain infections and helping other white blood cells clear away dead or damaged cells. Macrophages are another type of immune system white blood cell that engulfs and digests (phagocytizes) pathogens like microbes, cancer cells, cellular debris, and foreign substances.

The transition from a pro-inflammatory to an anti-inflammatory state is crucial for healing and tissue recovery after injury. Extensive scientific evidence shows the consequences if the inflammatory response is not switched off and becomes chronic. Understandably, regenerative medicine therapies aim to leverage the immune system’s key role in both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory processes, where Tregs play a vital role.

In this study, researchers locally injected a fibrin hydrogel containing Tregs into the injured tissues of mice to observe the extent to which they promoted the healing of bone, muscle, and skin tissues. Specifically, they chose three acute injury models: severe cranial defects, skeletal muscle loss leading to impaired function, and full-thickness skin wounds. Fibrin is a natural protein involved in wound healing; it is the final product of the human clotting pathway and can also serve as a medium for culturing regenerative cells like Tregs.

Shizuo Akira, a professor at IFReC and senior author of the study, said, “Compared to mice injected with fibrin hydrogels without Tregs, those injected with Tregs showed greater bone mass and coverage in the injured cranial area, more muscle tissue and larger muscle fibers, and faster skin wound closure.”

While investigating the mechanisms behind Tregs’ promotion of healing, researchers observed that the cells adopted an injury-specific phenotype—an observable characteristic—after being introduced to the damaged area. Tregs exhibited increased expression levels in genes related to immune regulation and tissue healing. Further experiments demonstrated that Tregs could shift monocytes and macrophages in the damaged tissue to an anti-inflammatory state, particularly by secreting signaling molecules like interleukin-10 (IL-10).

Martino noted, “Interestingly, we observed that when the gene encoding IL-10 was knocked out in Tregs, their healing-promoting effect disappeared. This finding underscores the critical role of IL-10 in how these Tregs support tissue repair and regeneration.”

The study’s results suggest that using cell colonies as a cell-based regenerative medicine therapy holds significant potential for post-injury tissue healing. While this study examined the effects of immediate Treg injection following injury, future research will determine the optimal timing for injecting Tregs into damaged tissue to effectively aid healing.

This research was published in the journal Nature Communications.

Injecting Immune Cells Can Significantly Enhance the Healing of Bones Muscles and Skin

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(source:internet, reference only)

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