Figure 10.
Both control and MSCs exposed to FaDu conditioned medium (CM) are capable of attracting human PBMCs. (a) Conditioned medium from MSCs or MSCs exposed to FaDu CM were collected and placed in the lower chamber of a transwell migration system, while 1 x 105 PBMCs were placed in the upper chamber. Representative images of PBMCs migrating to the lower chamber are shown. Data are representative of at least two independent experiments, conducted in duplicate. (b) A model depicting the crosstalk between tumor cells, MSCs and immune cells. (1) Tumor cells secrete soluble factors which attract MSCs (2). MSCs at the tumor site become tumor-associated MSCs with enhanced inflammatory responses and secreted chemokines (3) which attract immune cells (4) to the tumor site, collectively acting to drive tumorigenicity via enhanced inflammation as one potential mechanism of tumor progression. CM, conditioned media; MSCs, mesenchymal stem cells; PBMCs, peripheral blood mononuclear cells.