Optimization and Validation of FePro Cell Labeling Method

Current method to magnetically label cells using ferumoxides (Fe)-protamine (Pro) sulfate (FePro) is based on generating FePro complexes in a serum free media that are then incubated overnight with cells for the efficient labeling. However, this labeling technique requires long (>12–16 hours) incubation time and uses relatively high dose of Pro (5–6 µg/ml) that makes large extracellular FePro complexes. These complexes can be difficult to clean with simple cell washes and may create low signal intensity on T2* weighted MRI that is not desirable. The purpose of this study was to revise the current labeling method by using low dose of Pro and adding Fe and Pro directly to the cells before generating any FePro complexes. Human tumor glioma (U251) and human monocytic leukemia cell (THP-1) lines were used as model systems for attached and suspension cell types, respectively and dose dependent (Fe 25 to 100 µg/ml and Pro 0.75 to 3 µg/ml) and time dependent (2 to 48 h) labeling experiments were performed. Labeling efficiency and cell viability of these cells were assessed. Prussian blue staining revealed that more than 95% of cells were labeled. Intracellular iron concentration in U251 cells reached ∼30–35 pg-iron/cell at 24 h when labeled with 100 µg/ml of Fe and 3 µg/ml of Pro. However, comparable labeling was observed after 4 h across the described FePro concentrations. Similarly, THP-1 cells achieved ∼10 pg-iron/cell at 48 h when labeled with 100 µg/ml of Fe and 3 µg/ml of Pro. Again, comparable labeling was observed after 4 h for the described FePro concentrations. FePro labeling did not significantly affect cell viability. There was almost no extracellular FePro complexes observed after simple cell washes. To validate and to determine the effectiveness of the revised technique, human T-cells, human hematopoietic stem cells (hHSC), human bone marrow stromal cells (hMSC) and mouse neuronal stem cells (mNSC C17.2) were labeled. Labeling for 4 hours using 100 µg/ml of Fe and 3 µg/ml of Pro resulted in very efficient labeling of these cells, without impairing their viability and functional capability. The new technique with short incubation time using 100 µg/ml of Fe and 3 µg/ml of Pro is effective in labeling cells for cellular MRI

LINT, a Novel dL(3)mbt-Containing Complex, Represses Malignant Brain Tumour Signature Genes

Mutations in the l(3)mbt tumour suppressor result in overproliferation of Drosophila larval brains. Recently, the derepression of different gene classes in l(3)mbt mutants was shown to be causal for transformation. However, the molecular mechanisms of dL(3)mbt-mediated gene repression are not understood. Here, we identify LINT, the major dL(3)mbt complex of Drosophila. LINT has three core subunits—dL(3)mbt, dCoREST, and dLint-1—and is expressed in cell lines, embryos, and larval brain. Using genome-wide ChIP–Seq analysis, we show that dLint-1 binds close to the TSS of tumour-relevant target genes. Depletion of the LINT core subunits results in derepression of these genes. By contrast, histone deacetylase, histone methylase, and histone demethylase activities are not required to maintain repression. Our results support a direct role of LINT in the repression of brain tumour-relevant target genes by restricting promoter access

MRI Tracking of FePro Labeled Fresh and Cryopreserved Long Term In Vitro Expanded Human Cord Blood AC133+ Endothelial Progenitor Cells in Rat Glioma

Background: Endothelial progenitors cells (EPCs) are important for the development of cell therapies for various diseases. However, the major obstacles in developing such therapies are low quantities of EPCs that can be generated from the patient and the lack of adequate non-invasive imaging approach for in vivo monitoring of transplanted cells. The objective of this project was to determine the ability of cord blood (CB) AC133+ EPCs to differentiate, in vitro and in vivo, toward mature endothelial cells (ECs) after long term in vitro expansion and cryopreservation and to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess the in vivo migratory potential of ex vivo expanded and cryopreserved CB AC133+ EPCs in an orthotopic glioma rat model. Materials, Methods and Results: The primary CB AC133+ EPC culture contained mainly EPCs and long term in vitro conditions facilitated the maintenance of these cells in a state of commitment toward endothelial lineage. At days 15–20 and 25–30 of the primary culture, the cells were labeled with FePro and cryopreserved for a few weeks. Cryopreserved cells were thawed and in vitro differentiated or IV administered to glioma bearing rats. Different groups of rats also received long-term cultured, magnetically labeled fresh EPCs and both groups of animals underwent MRI 7 days after IV administration of EPCs. Fluorescent microscopy showed that in vitro differentiation of EPCs was not affected by FePro labeling and cryopreservation. MRI analysis demonstrated that in vivo accumulation of previously cryopreserved transplanted cells resulted in significantly higher R2 and R2* values indicating a higher rate of migration and incorporation into tumor neovascularization of previously cryopreserved CB AC133+ EPCs to glioma sites, compared to non-cryopreserved cells. Conclusion: Magnetically labeled CB EPCs can be in vitro expanded and cryopreserved for future use as MRI probes for monitoring the migration and incorporation to the sites of neovascularization

Sex differences in the impact of ozone on survival and alveolar macrophage function of mice after Klebsiella pneumoniae infection

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sex differences have been described in a number of pulmonary diseases. However, the impact of ozone exposure followed by pneumonia infection on sex-related survival and macrophage function have not been reported. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ozone exposure differentially affects: 1) survival of male and female mice infected with <it>Klebsiella pneumoniae</it>, and 2) the phagocytic ability of macrophages from these mice.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Male and female C57BL/6 mice were exposed to O₃or to filtered air (FA) (control) and then infected intratracheally with <it>K. pneumoniae </it>bacteria. Survival was monitored over a 14-day period, and the ability of alveolar macrophages to phagocytize the pathogen <it>in vivo </it>was investigated after 1 h.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>1) Both male and female mice exposed to O₃are significantly more susceptible to <it>K. pneumoniae </it>infection than mice treated with FA; 2) although females appeared to be more resistant to <it>K. pneumoniae </it>than males, O₃exposure significantly increased the susceptibility of females to <it>K. pneumoniae </it>infection to a greater degree than males; 3) alveolar macrophages from O₃-exposed male and female mice have impaired phagocytic ability compared to macrophages from FA-exposed mice; and 4) the O₃-dependent reduction in phagocytic ability is greater in female mice.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>O₃exposure reduces the ability of mice to survive <it>K. pneumoniae </it>infection and the reduced phagocytic ability of alveolar macrophages may be one of the contributing factors. Both events are significantly more pronounced in female mice following exposure to the environmental pollutant, ozone.</p

Privacy-preserving dataset combination and Lasso regression for healthcare predictions

Background: Recent developments in machine learning have shown its potential impact for clinical use such as risk prediction, prognosis, and treatment selection. However, relevant data are often scattered across different stakeholders and their use is regulated, e.g. by GDPR or HIPAA. As a concrete use-case, hospital Erasmus MC and health insurance company Achmea have data on individuals in the city of Rotterdam, which would in theory enable them to train a regression model in order to identify high-impact lifestyle factors for heart failure. However, privacy and confdentiality concerns make it unfeasible to exchange these data. Methods: This article describes a solution where vertically-partitioned synthetic data of Achmea and of Erasmus MC are combined using Secure Multi-Party Computation. First, a secure inner join protocol takes place to securely determine the identifiers of the patients that are represented in both datasets. Then, a secure Lasso Regression model is trained on the securely combined data. The involved parties thus obtain the prediction model but no further information on the input data of the other parties. Results: We implement our secure solution and describe its performance and scalability: we can train a prediction model on two datasets with 5000 records each and a total of 30 features in less than one hour, with a minimal difference from the results of standard (non-secure) methods. Conclusions: This article shows that it is possible to combine datasets and train a Lasso regression model on this combination in a secure way. Such a solution thus further expands the potential of privacy-preserving data analysis in the medical domain

Fit between humanitarian professionals and project requirements: hybrid group decision procedure to reduce uncertainty in decision-making

Choosing the right professional that has to meet indeterminate requirements is a critical aspect in humanitarian development and implementation projects. This paper proposes a hybrid evaluation methodology for some non-governmental organizations enabling them to select the most competent expert who can properly and adequately develop and implement humanitarian projects. This methodology accommodates various stakeholders’ perspectives in satisfying the unique requirements of humanitarian projects that are capable of handling a range of uncertain issues from both stakeholders and project requirements. The criteria weights are calculated using a two-step multi-criteria decision-making method: (1) Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process for the evaluation of the decision maker weights coupled with (2) Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to rank the alternatives which provide the ability to take into account both quantitative and qualitative evaluations. Sensitivity analysis have been developed and discussed by means of a real case of expert selection problem for a non-profit organisation. The results show that the approach allows a decrease in the uncertainty associated with decision-making, which proves that the approach provides robust solutions in terms of sensitivity analysis

Characterization of a distinct population of circulating human non-adherent endothelial forming cells and their recruitment via intercellular adhesion molecule-3

Circulating vascular progenitor cells contribute to the pathological vasculogenesis of cancer whilst on the other hand offer much promise in therapeutic revascularization in post-occlusion intervention in cardiovascular disease. However, their characterization has been hampered by the many variables to produce them as well as their described phenotypic and functional heterogeneity. Herein we have isolated, enriched for and then characterized a human umbilical cord blood derived CD133+ population of non-adherent endothelial forming cells (naEFCs) which expressed the hematopoietic progenitor cell markers (CD133, CD34, CD117, CD90 and CD38) together with mature endothelial cell markers (VEGFR2, CD144 and CD31). These cells also expressed low levels of CD45 but did not express the lymphoid markers (CD3, CD4, CD8)or myeloid markers (CD11b and CD14) which distinguishes them from ‘early’ endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). Functional studies demonstrated that these naEFCs (i) bound Ulex europaeus lectin, (ii)demonstrated acetylated-low density lipoprotein uptake, (iii) increased vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM-1) surface expression in response to tumor necrosis factor and (iv) in co-culture with mature endothelial cells increased the number of tubes, tubule branching and loops in a 3- dimensional in vitro matrix. More importantly, naEFCs placed in vivo generated new lumen containing vasculature lined by CD144 expressing human endothelial cells (ECs). Extensive genomic and proteomic analyses of the naEFCs showed that intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-3 is expressed on their cell surface but not on mature endothelial cells. Furthermore, functional analysis demonstrated that ICAM-3 mediated the rolling and adhesive events of the naEFCs under shear stress. We suggest that the distinct population of naEFCs identified and characterized here represents a new valuable therapeutic target to control aberrant vasculogenesis.Sarah L. Appleby, Michaelia P. Cockshell, Jyotsna B. Pippal, Emma J. Thompson, Jeffrey M. Barrett, Katie Tooley, Shaundeep Sen, Wai Yan Sun, Randall Grose, Ian Nicholson, Vitalina Levina, Ira Cooke, Gert Talbo, Angel F. Lopez and Claudine S. Bonde