Figure 4. Immune-modulatory functions of BM-MSCs and hES-MP002.5 cells.

BM-MSCs or hES-MP002.5 cells were added to mixed lymphocyte cultures (A) and PHA-stimulated lymphocyte cultures (B) [22] to examine their effect on allogeneic- and mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation, respectively. The percentage of stromal cells added to the cultures ranged from 0% (control) to 20% (x-axis). Lymphocyte proliferation rates are expressed as percentages of controls, i.e. cultures to which no MSCs were added. BM-MSCs for these experiments were generated as described previously [26]. Data are shown as mean ± SD of at least 3 independent experiments. Statistical differences compared to controls are indicated as *: p<0.05 (student t test).