Transplantation of placenta-derived multipotent cells (PDMCs) is a promising approach for
cell therapy to treat
inflammation-associated colon diseases. However, the effect of PDMCs on
colon cancer cells remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to characterize PDMCs obtained from human (hPDMCs) and rat (rPDMCs) placentas and to evaluate their impact on
colon cancer progression in rats. PDMCs were obtained from human and rat placentas by tissue explant culturing. Stemness- and trophoblast-related gene expression was studied using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and surface markers and intracellular
proteins were detected using flow cytometry and immunofluorescence, respectively. Experimental colon
carcinogenesis was induced in male albino Wistar rats by injecting 20 mg/kg
dimethylhydrazine (
DMH) once a week for 20 consecutive weeks. The administration of rPDMCs and hPDMC was performed at week 22 after the initial
DMH-injection. All animals were sacrificed through
carbon dioxide asphyxiation at week 5 after
cell transplantation. The number and size of each
tumor lesion was calculated. The type of
tumor was determined by standard histological methods. Cell engraftment was determined by PCR and immunofluorescence. Results demonstrated that rPDMCs possessed the immunophenotype and differentiation potential inherent in MSCs; however, hPDMCs exhibited a lower expression of cluster of differentiation 44 and did not express trophoblast-associated genes. The data of the present study indicated that PDMCs may engraft in different tissues but do not significantly affect
DMH-induced
tumor growth during short-term observations.