Engineered human adipose-derived stem cells inducing endothelial lineage and angiogenic response.

Biotechnological interventions to engineer favorable biochemical environments that facilitate wound repair through quick attainment of vasculature are of immense demand. Potential of angiogenic factors (AF), notably vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (Hif-1α) and the paracrine role of human adipose derived mesenchymal stromal cells (hADMSCs) in establishing vasculature has been reported. Independent application of AF or hADMSCs has led to clinical failure, pertaining to poor means of delivery, deprived bioavailability and insufficiency to drive adequate angiogenesis, respectively. Though augmenting well-timed release of AF through bioengineered hADMSCs seems appealing, effective non-viral transfection in primary hADMSCs continue to be under-explored in the context of quick reproducibility and translational safety. Based on high safety and clinical value, Neon® Transfection System in primary hADMSCs transfection was explored in this study. Multiple donor cell experiments established ~50% transfection efficiency, acceptable cell viability, and post-transfection phenotype maintenance with safe and transient AF delivery. The delivered AF induced endothelial trans-differentiation of engineered/non-engineered heterogeneous hADMSCs in culture. Delivered AF was established to function in dose dependent manner in terms of effect on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) proliferation, migration, tube elongation and elevated Flk-1 expression, emphasizing combinatorial AF therapy to be superior. This in vitro study is the first to report Neon® Transfection System for reproducible bioengineering of primary hADMSCs for functional AF (VEGF-A & HIF-1α) delivery, demonstrating endothelial lineage commitment, predicting combinatorial effectiveness and translational safety for subsequent regenerative medicine application.