Research Article Intrinsic Variability Present in Wharton’s Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cells and T Cell Responses May Impact Cell Therapy Fernanda Vieira Paladino, 1,2 Luiz Roberto Sardinha, 1 Carla Azevedo Piccinato, 1 and Anna Carla Goldberg 1,2,3 1 Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, São Paulo, SP, Brazil 2 Departamento de Alergia e Imunopatologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil 3 Instituto de Investigação Em Imunologia-INCT, São Paulo, SP, Brazil Correspondence should be addressed to Anna Carla Goldberg; goldberg@einstein.br Received 10 February 2017; Accepted 26 April 2017; Published 5 July 2017 Academic Editor: Marc Hendrik Dahlke Copyright © 2017 Fernanda Vieira Paladino et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSC) exhibit immunomodulatory effects on T cell response. WJ-MSC are easy to collect, process, and proliferate rapidly in culture, but information on the variability of individual cell samples impacting upon in vitro expansion, immunomodulatory potential, and aging processes is still lacking. We propose to evaluate the immunomodulatory cytokine profile and capacity to inhibit T cell proliferation of WJ-MSC progressing to replicative senescence in order to analyze if expected responses are affected. Our results show that the gene expression of immunomodulatory molecules varied among samples with no specific pattern present. In coculture, all WJ-MSC were capable of inhibiting mitogen-activated CD3 + T cell proliferation, although to different degrees, and each PBMC responded with a different level of inhibition. Thus, we suggest that each WJ-MSC displays unique behavior, differing in patterns of cytokine mRNA expression and immunomodulatory capacity. We believe that variability between samples may play a role in the effectiveness of WJ-MSC employed therapeutically. 1. Introduction Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are multipotent cells with the ability to proliferate, self-renew, and differenti- ate into different cell types [1, 2]. Minimal criteria from the International Society of Cellular Therapy establish that human MSC must be plastic adherent, exhibit a specific cell-surface expression profile, and differentiate into osteocytes, adipocytes, and chondrocytes in vitro [3, 4]. Bone marrow (BM) is deemed the “gold stan- dard” for MSC derivation and use in clinical trials [5, 6]. However, MSC obtained from the umbilical cord wall, known as Wharton’s jelly (WJ-MSC), can easily be isolated and processed. The cells proliferate rapidly in culture with the added value of being of very young age (neonatal), environment protected, and from a source with low ethical concerns. Along with their capacity of differentiating into mesoder- mal cells, MSC also display an important feature, namely, their immunomodulatory capacity [7, 8]. Indeed, the current consensus is that the more promising benefits occur in patients presenting acute pathologies with a strong inflam- matory component. In these conditions, in response to proinflammatory cytokines, MSC start to produce immuno- regulatory factors that downsize the immune response [9]. The effect is most likely due to soluble factors secreted by the MSC [10], such as transforming growth factor β-1 (TGF-β1) [11], interleukin-10 (IL-10) [12], hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) [13], prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) [14], and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase- (IDO-) mediated trypto- phan depletion [10], which result in crosstalk between MSC and immune cells. The effects of MSC on the cells of the immune system are usually anti-inflammatory and have been observed on many cell types. MSC induce M1 to M2 Hindawi Stem Cells International Volume 2017, Article ID 8492797, 12 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/8492797