Investigation of the Apoptotic Effects of Mesenchymal Stem Cells on KG-1 Leukemic Cell Line

 Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are undifferentiated cells with the ability of multi-potency, pluripotency, and self-renewal. MSCs show great promise in cancer therapy due to their unique features. MSC secrete various cytokines with multifunctional properties, although their roles are unclear.

 We have investigated the influence of secreted cytokines from MSCs on KG-1 cells as a cell model of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). For this purpose, following the culture and characterization of MSCs, a trans-well system was used for co-culturing MSCs and KG-1. To determine apoptosis induction Ki/Caspase-3 assay was conducted for cultured KG-1 alone and in co-culture with MSCs (10:1) on day 7. In the following step, the protein was isolated from both groups (control and experimental) and western blotting was done for investigating the BAX and BCL-2 proteins expression.

 It was found that MSCs significantly enhanced caspase-3 activity in KG-1 cells (P<0.05). Besides, A significant increase in protein expression of BAX was detected, while BCL-2 displayed a dramatic reduction (P<0.01).

 As a concluding remark, MSCs have a contributory role in the apoptosis of KG-1 cells that is mediated by Caspase-3, BAX, and BCL2 expression.