Gene expression changes between naïve and IL-1β + TGF-β2 dual cytokine licensed equine mesenchymal stem cells

The study objectives were to 1) determine mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) surface expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and transcriptome-wide gene expression changes following IL-1β + TGF-β2 dual licensing and 2) evaluate if IL-1β + TGF-β2 dual licensed MSCs had greater ability to positively modulate tenocyte function compared to naïve MSCs. Paired mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from equine donors (n=6) were grown for 72 hours in standard media as naïve MSCs or in standard media containing 2 ng/ml IL-1b and 1 ng/ml TGF-b2 as dual licensed MSCs. Total RNA was extracted and bulk RNA sequencing was performed to determine differentially expressed genes (DEGs).