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Cell-based therapy of local tissue injuries or damages requires application of stem cells and inhibition of harmful inflammatory reaction which could impede the healing process. To increase the effectiveness of this therapy, a local administration of drugs can avoid their side effects associated with a systemic treatment. A local therapy requires suitable carriers, which can transfer the cells and drugs to the site of injury. As a promising carriers turned out nanofiber scaffolds prepared by electrospinning technology from various types of polymers. The main advantage of this technology is a possibility to define properties of nanofiber scaffolds, optimal for the growth and transfer of stem cells, and which could incorporate various types of immunosuppressive drugs. Here we describe the formation and use of nanofiber scaffolds prepared by needleless electrospinning technology from poly (L-lactic acid) (PLA) which are loaded with immunosuppressive drug Cyclosporine A (CsA). We show that CsA-loaded nanofibers effectively and selectively inhibit proliferation of activated T cells and suppress the production of T cell cytokines in vitro. Simultaneously, these nanofiber scaffolds enable growth of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and thus can serve as stem cell carriers. Moreover, using an experimental mouse model of skin transplantation, we showed that covering skin allografts with MSC-seeded and CsA-loaded nanofibers significantly inhibited the local production of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-2, IL-17 and IFN-γ, and supported healing. Thus, nanofiber scaffolds seeded with stem cells and loaded with CsA can serve as carriers of cells and drugs for a local cell therapy and for simultaneous effective immunosuppression.
Keywords: nanofiber scaffold, immunosuppressive drug CsA, cytokines, stem cells© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.