A single intra-articular injection of TGFB1-engineered iMSCs lowered synovial macrophage numbers and the MHCII/CD206 ratio in a mouse osteoarthritis model but did not reduce cartilage degeneration
The study benchmarked a doxycycline-inducible, hTERT-immortalized iPSC-derived mesenchymal stromal cell line engineered to overexpress TGFB1 (TGFB1-iMSCs) against multiple adipose tissue-derived MSC (MSC(AT)) donors across predefined immunomodulatory and angiogenic potency attributes, finding that TGFB1-iMSCs were smaller and more circular with comparable or higher proliferative rates, had a distinct angiogenic signature (EDIL3, EDN1, PDGFA) and nine differentially expressed microRNAs, secreted less VEGF with intermediate HUVEC tube formation, yet matched or exceeded all MSC(AT) donors in a monocyte-macrophage transwell immunomodulatory assay; in a murine DMM post-traumatic osteoarthritis model, a single intra-articular injection of TGFB1-iMSCs, but not MSC(AT), reduced total synovial macr