Differences in the Inflammatory Response of White Adipose Tissue and Adipose-Derived Stem Cells

The application of liposuctioned white adipose tissue (L-WAT) and adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) as a novel immunomodulatory treatment option is the currently subject of various clinical trials. Because it is crucial to understand the underlying therapeutic mechanisms, the latest studies focused on the immunomodulatory functions of L-WAT or ADSCs. However, studies that examine the specific transcriptional adaptation of these treatment options to an extrinsic inflammatory stimulus in an unbiased manner are scarce. The aim of this study was to compare the gene expression profile of L-WAT and ADSCs, when subjected to tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), and to identify key factors that might be therapeutically relevant when using L-WAT or ADSCs as an immuno-modulator. Fat tissue was harvested by liposuction from five human donors. ADSCs were isolated from the same donors and shortly subjected to expansion culture. L-WAT and ADSCs were treated with human recombinant TNFα, to trigger a strong inflammatory response. Subsequently, an mRNA deep next-generation sequencing was performed to evaluate the different inflammatory responses of L-WAT and ADSCs. We found significant gene expression changes in both experimental groups after TNFα incubation. However, ADSCs showed a more homogenous gene expression profile by predominantly expressing genes involved in immunomodulatory processes such as CCL19, CCL5, TNFSF15 and IL1b when compared to L-WAT, which reacted rather heterogeneously. As RNA sequencing between L-WAT and ADSCS treated with TNFα revealed that L-WAT responded very heterogeneously to TNFα treatment, we therefore conclude that ADSCs are more reliable and predictable when used therapeutically. Our study furthermore yields insight into potential biological processes regarding immune system response, inflammatory response, and cell activation. Our results can help to better understand the different immunomodulatory effects of L-WAT and ADSCs.