title: Kallikrein-kinin in stem cell therapy.
abstract: The tissue kallikrein-kinin system exerts a wide spectrum of biological activities in the cardiovascular, renal and central nervous systems. Tissue kallikrein-kinin modulates the proliferation, viability, mobility and functional activity of certain stem cell populations, namely mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), mononuclear cell subsets and neural stem cells. Stimulation of these stem cells by tissue kallikrein-kinin may lead to protection against renal, cardiovascular and neural damage by inhibiting apoptosis, inflammation, fibrosis and oxidative stress and promoting neovascularization. Moreover, MSCs and EPCs genetically modified with tissue kallikrein are resistant to hypoxia- and oxidative stress-induced apoptosis, and offer enhanced protective actions in animal models of heart and kidney injury and hindlimb ischemia. In addition, activation of the plasma kallikrein-kinin system promotes EPC recruitment to the inflamed synovium of arthritic rats. Conversely, cleaved high molecular weight kininogen, a product of plasma kallikrein, reduces the viability and vasculogenic activity of EPCs. Therefore, kallikrein-kinin provides a new approach in enhancing the efficacy of stem cell therapy for human diseases.
authors.affiliation: Julie Chao, Grant Bledsoe, Lee Chao, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, United States.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chao
authors.affiliation: Julie Chao, Grant Bledsoe, Lee Chao, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, United States.
authors.forename: Grant
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bledsoe
authors.affiliation: Julie Chao, Grant Bledsoe, Lee Chao, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, United States.
authors.forename: Lee
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chao
keywords: Brain; Endothelial progenitor cells; Heart; Kidney; Kinin; Mesenchymal stem cells; Neural stem cells; Plasma kallikrein; Tissue kallikrein