Determination of the miRNA profile of extracellular vesicles from equine mesenchymal stem cells after different treatments

Abstract

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common and incurable disease in humans and animals. To gain a better understanding of the pathogenesis and identify potential treatments, miRNAs will be extracted and analysed from extracellular vesicles (EVs) of equine adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (AdMSCs). Methods: For this purpose we cultivated and pretreated AdMSCs under different conditions: interleukin 1β, shock wave, chondrogenic differentiation, chondrogenic differentiation under hypoxia, or after senescence. After treatment, EVs were harvested from the cell culture supernatants. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) was used to sequence the miRNAs from the EVs. Results: A total of 89 miRNAs whose expression was significantly altered compared with that of an untreated negative control were identified. On average, 53 miRNAs were upregulated and 6 miRNAs were downregulated. Among others, the miRNAs eca-miR-101, eca-miR-143, eca-miR-145, eca-miR-146a, eca-miR-27a, eca-miR-29b, eca-miR-93, eca-miR-98, and eca-miR-221 were significantly increased after the stimulations, which, as known anti-inflammatory miRNAs, could be candidates for therapeutic use in the treatment of OA. Conclusion: These results lay the foundation for further research into the significance and efficacy of these miRNAs so that this knowledge can be improved in further experiments and, ideally, translated into therapeutic use.