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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1399632

Exendin-4-Enriched Exosomes from hUCMSCs Alleviate Diabetic Nephropathy via Gut Microbiota and Immune Modulation

Provisionally accepted
Liping Wang Liping Wang 1Aihua Liang Aihua Liang 1Jukai Huang Jukai Huang 2*
  • 1 Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
  • 2 Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Diabetic nephropathy (DN) presents a significant therapeutic challenge, compounded by complex pathophysiological mechanisms. Recent studies suggest Exendin-4 (Ex-4) as a potential ameliorative agent for DN, albeit with unclear mechanisms. This research investigates the effects and underlying mechanisms of Ex-4-enriched exosomes derived from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) on DN, focusing on their renoprotective properties and interactions with gut microbiota. Exosomes from hUCMSCs (hUCMSCs-Exo) were loaded with Ex-4 via electroporation. A streptozotocin (STZ) -induced DN mouse model was employed to assess the therapeutic impact of these engineered exosomes. The study further explored immune cell dynamics, mainly CD4 + regulatory T (Treg) cells, using bioinformatics, flow cytometry, and the influence of gut microbiota through antibiotic treatment and specific bacterial reintroduction.

    Keywords: diabetic nephropathy, kidney injury, Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells, Exosomes, exendin-4, CD4 + regulatory T cells, gut microbiota metabolism, Prevotella

    Received: 12 Mar 2024; Accepted: 30 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wang, Liang and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jukai Huang, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.