Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell (UC-MSC)
therapy improves liver function in
liver cirrhosis patients. This study aimed to elucidate the therapeutic mechanism underlying
cell therapy by analyzing changes in the modification and expression of
proteins 1 month post-treatment with UC-MSCs. This prospective study included 11
cirrhosis patients who received MSC injection. The laboratory indexes before and
after treatment were collected to evaluate the clinical treatment effect of UC-MSCs, and the
protein expression and lactylation modification in the liver were comprehensively revealed. Meanwhile, weighted gene co-expression network analysis was used to analyze the co-expression
protein modules and their relationship with clinical features. The patients with
liver cirrhosis showed an improvement trend after receiving UC-MSC treatment; specifically, the liver
protein synthesis function was significantly improved and the coagulation function was also significantly improved. Proteomics combined with
lactic acid proteomics revealed 160
lysine lactylation (Kla) sites of 119
proteins. Functional analysis showed that the lactylation-modified
proteins were enriched in the pathway of
glucose and other substances' metabolism, and many key
enzymes of glycolysis and gluconeogenesis were lactated. UC-MSC
therapy has a certain clinical effect in the treatment of
liver cirrhosis and may act by regulating material metabolism, because the lactylation
protein points to energy metabolism.