Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell donors with a high body mass index display elevated endoplasmic reticulum stress and are functionally impaired

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM‐MSCs) are promising candidates for regenerative medicine purposes. The effect of obesity on the function of BM‐MSCs is currently unknown. Here, we assessed how obesity affects the function of BM‐MSCs and the role of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and the unfolded protein response (UPR) therein. BM‐MSCs were obtained from healthy donors with a normal (<25) or high (>30) body mass index (BMI). High‐BMI BM‐MSCs displayed severely impaired osteogenic and diminished adipogenic differentiation, decreased proliferation rates, increased senescence, and elevated expression of ER stress–related genes ATF4 and CHOP. Suppression of ER stress using tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) and 4‐phenylbutyrate (4‐PBA) resulted in partial recovery of osteogenic differentiation capacity, with a significant increase in the expression of ALPL and improvement in the UPR. These data indicate that BMI is important during the selection of BM‐MSC donors for regenerative medicine purposes and that application of high‐BMI BM‐MSCs with TUDCA or 4‐PBA may improve stem cell function. However, whether this improvement can be translated into an in vivo clinical advantage remains to be assessed.