Clinical immunology : the official journal of the Clinical Immunology Society
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Human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UCMSCs) show therapeutic effects on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Deficiency in functional polarization and phagocytosis in macrophages has been suggested in the pathogenesis of SLE. We found that macrophages from B6. ⋯ Importantly, macrophages from SLE patients also showed lower expression of CD206 and reduced phagocytic activity, which were corrected by being co-cultured with UCMSCs in vitro and in SLE patients receiving UCMSC transplantation. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that IL-6 was required for the up-regulation of CD206 expression and phagocytic activity of UCMSC-treated SLE macrophages. Our results indicate that UCMSCs alleviate SLE through promoting CD206 expression and phagocytic activity of macrophages in an IL-6 dependent manner.