Dental Follicle Mesenchymal Stem Cells Enhance CD4+Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cells in the Lymphocytes of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Patients

Objective: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disorder that causes the degeneration of motor neurons. Currently, riluzole is the only effective drug used to treat ALS; however, it has limited clinical benefits. Stem cell-based therapy has been studied as a potential novel treatment strategy for ALS and has shown to have an anti-inflammatory effects when treating this disease. In this study, we studied the immunosuppressive effect of dental follicle mesenchymal stem cells (DFSCs) on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of ALS patients. Methods: DFSCs were isolated from the third molar teeth of healthy individuals, and cells were seeded in the 48 well plate 48 hours prior to PBMC isolation. PBMCs were isolated from venous blood samples of ALS patients and healthy volunteers and were cultured in the presence or absence of DFSCs. After 72 h of culture period lymphocyte proliferation, apoptosis and CD4+FoxP3+ regulatory T-cell ratios were analyzed. Results: Analysis revealed an increase in the number of CD4+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells and a decrease in the proliferative responses of lymphocytes with DFSCs. In addition, DFSCs enhanced the apoptotic effect of the lymphocytes of ALS patients, but increased cell survival in healthy individuals. Conclusion: Our study showed that DFSCs regulate inflammatory responses of lymphocytes in ALS patients and that they can be a novel therapeutic approach for treating neuroinflammatory diseases including ALS