Stimulation of the CB2 receptor partially reverses the LPS-induced modulation of pro- and anti- inflammatory cytokines in hMSCs.

<p>The release of the anti-inflammatory IL-10 (A) and of the pro-inflammatory IL-1β (B), IL-8 (C) and IL-17 (D), as well as of IL-6 (E), TNF-α (F) and INF-γ (G) from MSCs have been investigated through a multi-ELISA assay. IL-10 secretion by MSC cells was significantly reduced in response to 500 ng/ml LPS, while IL-1β, IL-8 and IL-17 were significantly increased. The treatment with the CB2 agonist JWH.-133 1 µM was able to revert the LPS-induced effect. The CB2 stimulation decreased the release of all the cytokines, even of the anti-inflammatory IL-10, thus was conversely shown to be up-regulated in total cellular lysates both at P6 and after CB2 stimulation, as revealed by the western blot included in the A1 inset. The release of IL-6, TNF-α and INF-γ by MSC cells, undetectable at basal condition, was significantly increased in response to 500 ng/ml LPS. The treatment with the CB2 agonist JWH-133 1 µM was able to fully revert the LPS-induced effect. Mean concentration ± SD (pg/ml) for all the cytokines from triplicate cultures is shown. A t-test has been used for statistical analysis. <i>p</i><0.05 has been considered statistically significant.