{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]],"date-time":"2026-04-10T11:43:15Z","timestamp":1775821395451,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]],"date-time":"2026-04-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775779200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Korean Government","award":["RS-2025-02313877"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RS-2025-02313877"]}]},{"name":"PLABiologics Co., Ltd."}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Antioxidants"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a major cause of adult blindness and is characterized by progressive retinal vascular dysfunction and pathological angiogenesis. To establish a DR model, streptozotocin (STZ) was intraperitoneally injected into rats. After 8 weeks, na\u00efve placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells (PD-MSCs) or PEDF-overexpressing PD-MSCs (PD-MSCsPEDF) were intravitreally transplanted into the right eye for 4 weeks. Pathological neovascularization in DR is regulated by the balance between vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF). In diabetic retinas, increased VEGF and decreased PEDF expression were reversed following PD-MSC transplantation. Notably, PD-MSCsPEDF treatment resulted in higher PEDF, and lower VEGF expression compared with na\u00efve PD-MSCs, with similar expression patterns observed in the contralateral non-transplanted eyes. These findings indicate that engineering PD-MSCsPEDF enhances anti-angiogenic activity by modulating VEGF and PEDF balance, thereby alleviating vascular damage in STZ-induced diabetic retinas.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/antiox15040473","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]],"date-time":"2026-04-10T10:20:16Z","timestamp":1775816416000},"page":"473","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Engineering Placental Mesenchymal Stem Cells with PEDF for Retinal Protection in Diabetic Retinopathy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3457-5190","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jaeyeon","family":"Kim","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Life Sciences, Department of Life Science, Graduate School, CHA University, Seongnam-si 13488, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-0008-9268","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Se Jin","family":"Hong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Life Sciences, Department of Life Science, Graduate School, CHA University, Seongnam-si 13488, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jeong Woo","family":"Choi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Life Sciences, Department of Life Science, Graduate School, CHA University, Seongnam-si 13488, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jin","family":"Seok","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"PLABiologics Co., Ltd., Seongnam-si 13522, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2140-275X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Youngje","family":"Sung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam-si 13488, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2320-7157","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gi Jin","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Life Sciences, Department of Life Science, Graduate School, CHA University, Seongnam-si 13488, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"16012","DOI":"10.1038\/nrdp.2016.12","article-title":"Diabetic retinopathy","volume":"2","author":"Wong","year":"2016","journal-title":"Nat. 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