Reprogramming Oral Epithelial Keratinocytes into a Pluripotent Phenotype for Tissue Regeneration

OBJECTIVES: We set out to reprogram adult somatic oral epithelial keratinocytes into pluripotent cells for regenerative dentistry. SETTING AND SAMPLE POPULATION: Immortalized murine oral keratinocyte cell (IMOK) line raised from adult mouse mucosa were cultured in vitro in our studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Adult murine oral epithelial keratinocytes were chronically treated with TGF-β1 in vitro, and the expression of Oct4, Nanog, Sox2 and Nestin, as well as specific homeobox Gata and Pax gene family members were investigated. RESULTS: We documented the induction of stem factors linked with pluripotency and/or the maintenance and regulation of stem-cell self-renewal in oral epithelial keratinocytes by TGFβ1. Moreover, we discovered that this TGF-β1-induced increase in Oct4, Nanog, Sox2 and Nestin was inhibited by SB431542, suggesting that TGF-β1 signals via the TGF-βRI receptor to induce pluripotency and stemness. CONCLUSIONS: Adult oral epithelial keratinocytes treated chronically with TGF-β1 acquired phenotypic characteristics consistent with pluripotent stem cells, highlighting the facileness of reprogramming adult oral keratinocytes into an unlimited supply of pluripotent stem cells

Isolation of circulating tumor cells from glioblastoma patients by direct immunomagnetic targeting

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common form of primary brain cancer in adults and tissue biopsies for diagnostic purposes are often inaccessible. The postulated idea that brain cancer cells cannot pass the blood-brain barrier to form circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has recently been overthrown and CTCs have been detected in the blood of GBM patients albeit in low numbers. Given the potential of CTCs to be analyzed for GBM biomarkers that may guide therapy decisions it is important to define methods to better isolate these cells. Here, we determined markers for immunomagnetic targeting and isolation of GBM-CTCs and confirmed their utility for CTC isolation from GBM patient blood samples. Further, we identified a new marker to distinguish isolated GBM-CTCs from residual lymphocytes

Isolation of circulating tumor cells from glioblastoma patients by direct immunomagnetic targeting

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common form of primary brain cancer in adults and tissue biopsies for diagnostic purposes are often inaccessible. The postulated idea that brain cancer cells cannot pass the blood-brain barrier to form circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has recently been overthrown and CTCs have been detected in the blood of GBM patients albeit in low numbers. Given the potential of CTCs to be analyzed for GBM biomarkers that may guide therapy decisions it is important to define methods to better isolate these cells. Here, we determined markers for immunomagnetic targeting and isolation of GBM-CTCs and confirmed their utility for CTC isolation from GBM patient blood samples. Further, we identified a new marker to distinguish isolated GBM-CTCs from residual lymphocytes

3D superimposition of craniofacial imaging—The utility of multicentre collaborations

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149360/1/ocr12281.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149360/2/ocr12281_am.pd

A PARADIGM SHIFT IN THE TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH RESECTABLE PANCREATIC CANCER

Purpose of the study was to provide medical oncologists and surgeons specializing in the treatment of pancreatic cancer patients with the most recent information on the importance and role of chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with resectable and borderline resectable pancreatic cancer.Material and Methods. Pubmed and COSMIC databases were used for literature search. Reports of the executive authorities in the field of Health Care of the Russian Federation, as well as worldwide data regarding morbidity and mortality of patients with pancreatic cancer were analyzed. The data of retrospective and prospective clinical trials were studied.Results. Based on the analysis of the most recent publications, the authors provided data on modern approaches to the treatment of operable pancreatic cancer.Conclusion. The data presented in the article summarize results of recent clinical trials. This will allow oncologists to choose the most correct and personalized tactics for the management of patients with resectable and borderline resectable pancreatic cancer

The role of liquid biopsies in detecting molecular tumor biomarkers in brain cancer patients

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most lethal primary central nervous system cancers with a median overall survival of only 12–15 months. The best documented treatment is surgical tumor debulking followed by chemoradiation and adjuvant chemotherapy with temozolomide, but treatment resistance and therefore tumor recurrence, is the usual outcome. Although advances in molecular subtyping suggests GBM can be classified into four subtypes, one concern about using the original histology for subsequent treatment decisions is that it only provides a static snapshot of heterogeneous tumors that may undergo longitudinal changes over time, especially under selective pressure of ongoing therapy. Liquid biopsies obtained from bodily fluids like blood and cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) are less invasive, and more easily repeated than surgery. However, their deployment for patients with brain cancer is only emerging, and possibly suppressed clinically due to the ongoing belief that the blood brain barrier prevents the egress of circulating tumor cells, exosomes, and circulating tumor nucleic acids into the bloodstream. Although brain cancer liquid biopsy analyses appear indeed challenging, advances have been made and here we evaluate the current literature on the use of liquid biopsies for detection of clinically relevant biomarkers in GBM to aid diagnosis and prognostication

Ten year experience of pediatric kidney biopsies from a single center in Pakistan

There are many established registries of kidney biopsies around the world. In addition, there are several reports available in literature from many countries on pediatric kidney biopsy. This study was done to determine the indications and pathological patterns of kidney biopsies of children referred to our hospital, and compare our data with the data available from other countries. This is a cross-sectional study of pediatric kidney biopsies over a 10-year period, from January 1997 to December 2006. All biopsies were done in Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. Age range was from 1 to 14 years. Data were analyzed for indications and histopathological diagnosis. A total of 54 kidney biopsies were included in the initial analysis. Here 13 samples were excluded and final analysis was done on the remaining 41 samples. The most common indication of kidney biopsy was nephrotic syndrome in 25 samples (61%). The most common histopathology was minimal change disease in 15 (37%), followed by focal segmental glomerulosclerosis in 5 (12%) of the biopsies