Editorial: assessment of inflammatory bowel disease-a picture is worth a thousand words

Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells (BMSC) Carried with miR-338 Improve BMSC Homing in Intestinal Mucosa of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Rats Through Increasing C-X-C Chemokine Receptor Type 4 (CXCR-4)

This study assessed whether bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSC) carried with miR-338 improve its homing in intestinal mucosa of IBD rats. Fifty SD rats were equally and randomly assigned into control set, model set, miR-338 set, CXCR-4 Inhibitor set and positive control set followed by analysis of miR-338 expression, body weight, DAI grade, pathological changes of distal colonic tissue, ultra-microstructure of intestinal epithelium, level of IL-8, IL-10, TGF-β1, VEGF, and CXCR4, as well as the relation between miR-338 and CXCR-4. miR-338 in decorated BMSC was significantly upregulated. Body weight in model set and CXCR-4 Inhibitor set was lowest followed by miR-338 set and positive control set. However, opposite results were obtained for DAI grade. IL-8 level was highest and IL-10 was lowest in model set and CXCR-4 Inhibitor set. The BMSC carried with miR-338 exerted recovery action on the intestinal mucosa of IBD rats and inhibited the activity of inflammatory cells. In conclusion, BMSC carried with miR-338 develops recovery action on the intestinal mucosa of IBD rats possibly through regulation of CXCR4, indicating that miR-338 might be a target for the treatment of IBD.