CXCR4+-targeted protein nanoparticles produced in the food-grade bacterium Lactococcus lactis

Altres ajuts: CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (project NANOPROTHER). A Villaverde received an ICREA ACADEMIA award. OC Garrido received a PhD fellowship from MECD and EGF a postdoctoral fellowship from INIA (DOC-INIA, INIA, MINECO). Unzueta received a Sara Borrell postdoctoral fellowship from ISCIII.Aim: Lactococcus lactis is a Gram-positive (endotoxin-free) food-grade bacteria exploited as alternative to Escherichia coli for recombinant protein production. We have explored here for the first time the ability of this platform as producer of complex, self-assembling protein materials. Materials & methods: Biophysical properties, cell penetrability and in vivo biodistribution upon systemic administration of tumor-targeted protein nanoparticles produced in L. lactis have been compared with the equivalent material produced in E. coli. Results: Protein nanoparticles have been efficiently produced in L. lactis, showing the desired size, internalization properties and biodistribution. Conclusion: In vitro and in vivo data confirm the potential and robustness of the production platform, pointing out L. lactis as a fascinating cell factory for the biofabrication of protein materials intended for therapeutic applications

Resource Orchestration of 5G Transport Networks for Vertical Industries

The future 5G transport networks are envisioned to support a variety of vertical services through network slicing and efficient orchestration over multiple administrative domains. In this paper, we propose an orchestrator architecture to support vertical services to meet their diverse resource and service requirements. We then present a system model for resource orchestration of transport networks as well as low-complexity algorithms that aim at minimizing service deployment cost and/or service latency. Importantly, the proposed model can work with any level of abstractions exposed by the underlying network or the federated domains depending on their representation of resources.This work has been partially funded by the EU H2020 5G-Transformer Project (grant no. 761536)

Mobile Transport and Computing Platform for 5G Verticals: resource abstraction and implementation

This paper has been presented at: 2018 IEEE Conference on Network Function Virtualization and Software Define Networks (IEEE NFV-SDN)The 5G-TRANSFORMER project aims at transforming today's mobile transport networks into an SDN/NFV-based platform, which offers slices tailored to the needs of vertical industries. The paper describes the 5G-TRANSFORMER resource management layer, namely MTP, and its main functionalities such as resource abstraction, resource information modeling and orchestration, and service instantiation. Then, it focuses on the ETSI-based interfaces exploited for the interaction between the control and management plane elements. Finally, the paper reports an MTP implementation including messages reporting resource abstraction.This work has been partially funded by the EU H2020 5G-TRANSFORMER Project (grant no. 761536)

5Growth: An end-to-end service platform for automated deployment and management of vertical services over 5G networks

This article introduces the key innovations of the 5Growth service platform to empower vertical industries with an AI-driven automated 5G end-to-end slicing solution that allows industries to achieve their service requirements. Specifically, we present multiple vertical pilots (Industry 4.0, transportation, and energy), identify the key 5G requirements to enable them, and analyze existing technical and functional gaps as compared to current solutions. Based on the identified gaps, we propose a set of innovations to address them with: (i) support of 3GPP-based RAN slices by introducing a RAN slicing model and providing automated RAN orchestration and control; (ii) an AI-driven closed-loop for automated service management with service level agreement assurance; and (iii) multi-domain solutions to expand service offerings by aggregating services and resources from different provider domains and also enable the integration of private 5G networks with public networks.This work has been partially supported by EC H2020 5GPPP 5Growth project (Grant 856709)

Coordinated Activation of Candidate Proto-Oncogenes and Cancer Testes Antigens via Promoter Demethylation in Head and Neck Cancer and Lung Cancer

Background: Epigenetic alterations have been implicated in the pathogenesis of solid tumors, however, proto-oncogenes activated by promoter demethylation have been sporadically reported. We used an integrative method to analyze expression in primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and pharmacologically demethylated cell lines to identify aberrantly demethylated and expressed candidate proto-oncogenes and cancer testes antigens in HNSCC. Methodology/Principal Findings: We noted coordinated promoter demethylation and simultaneous transcriptional upregulation of proto-oncogene candidates with promoter homology, and phylogenetic footprinting of these promoters demonstrated potential recognition sites for the transcription factor BORIS. Aberrant BORIS expression correlated with upregulation of candidate proto-oncogenes in multiple human malignancies including primary non-small cell lung cancers and HNSCC, induced coordinated proto-oncogene specific promoter demethylation and expression in non-tumorigenic cells, and transformed NIH3T3 cells. Conclusions/Significance: Coordinated, epigenetic unmasking of multiple genes with growth promoting activity occurs i