Transdifferentiation of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells into Epithelial-Like Cells

Bone marrow-derived stem cells have the potential to transdifferentiate into unexpected peripheral cells. We hypothesize that circulating bone marrow-derived stem cells might have the capacity to transdifferentiate into epithelial-like cells and release matrix metalloproteinase-1-modulating factors such as 14-3-3σ for dermal fibroblasts. We have characterized a subset of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) that develops an epithelial-like profile. Our findings show that these cells develop epithelial-like morphology and express 14-3-3σ and keratin-5, -8 as early as day 7 and day 21, respectively. When compared with control, conditioned media collected from PBMCs in advanced epithelial-like differentiation (cultures on days 28, 35, and 42) increased the matrix metalloproteinase-1 expression in dermal fibroblasts (P ≤ 0.01). The depletion of 14-3-3σ from these conditioned media by immunoprecipitation reduced the effect by 39.5% (P value, 0.05). Therefore, the releasable 14-3-3σ from PBMC-derived epithelial-like cells is involved in this process. Our findings provide new insights into the PBMC transdifferentiation to generate epithelial-like cells and subsequently release of 14-3-3σ that will disclose new therapeutic alternatives for different dermal clinical settings.