Figure 5.

TGFβ signaling negatively regulates the pro-inflammatory response of MSCs exposed to tumor CM. (a) MSCs were cultured as described in Methods and then were exposed to MDA-MB-231 CM in the presence of 10 μM SB-431542 or DMSO. On the indicated days, nuclei were stained with Hoechst 33342 and cells were visualized under a florescent microscope. Data are representative of at least three independent experiments. (b) Quantification of a representative set of genes in the cytokine and inflammatory response pathway in MSCs exposed to MDA-MB-231 CM in the presence of 10 μM SB-431542 or DMSO from a. Data are presented as the fold change in gene expression relative to control MSCs. Data are presented as mean ± S.D. n = 3. (c) MSCs were cultured as described in Methods and then were exposed to FaDu CM in the presence of 10 μg/ml TGFβ1 and TGFβ3. On Day 5, cells were visualized under a florescent microscope (4x). (d) Quantification of a representative set of genes in the cytokine and inflammatory response pathway in MSCs exposed to FaDu CM in the presence of 10 μg/ml TGFβ1 and TGFβ3 from c. Data are presented as percent change in gene expression relative to MSCs exposed to FaDu CM + vehicle (dH₂O). Data are presented as mean ± S.D. n = 3. CM, conditioned media; DMSO, dimethyl sulfoxide; MSCs, mesenchymal stem cells.