Mitochondrial transfer mediates endothelial cell engraftment through mitophagy.

ABSTRACT: Ischaemic diseases such as critical limb ischaemia and myocardial infarction affect millions of people worldwide¹. Transplanting endothelial cells (ECs) is a promising therapy in vascular medicine, but engrafting ECs typically necessitates co-transplanting perivascular supporting cells such as mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), which makes clinical implementation complicated^2,3. The mechanisms that enable MSCs to facilitate EC engraftment remain elusive. Here we show that, under cellular stress, MSCs transfer mitochondria to ECs through tunnelling nanotubes, and that blocking this transfer impairs EC engraftment. We devised a strategy to artificially transplant mitochondria, transiently enhancing EC bioenergetics and enabling them to form functional vessels in ischaemi

SUBMITTER: Lin RZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11574736 | biostudies-literature | 2024 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature