Folate-based single cell screening using surface enhanced Raman microimaging

Recent progress in nanotechnology and its application to biomedical settings have generated great advantages in dealing with early cancer diagnosis. The identification of the specific properties of cancer cells, such as the expression of particular plasma membrane molecular receptors, has become crucial in revealing the presence and in assessing the stage of development of the disease. Here we report a single cell screening approach based on Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) microimaging. We fabricated a SERS-labelled nanovector based on the biofunctionalization of gold nanoparticles with folic acid. After treating the cells with the nanovector, we were able to distinguish three different cell populations from different cell lines (cancer HeLa and PC-3, and normal HaCaT lines), suitably chosen for their different expressions of folate binding proteins. The nanovector, indeed, binds much more efficiently on cancer cell lines than on normal ones, resulting in a higher SERS signal measured on cancer cells. These results pave the way for applications in single cell diagnostics and, potentially, in theranostic

Inflammatory Cytokine Expression Is Associated with Chikungunya Virus Resolution and Symptom Severity

The Chikungunya virus infection zones have now quickly spread from Africa to parts of Asia, North America and Europe. Originally thought to trigger a disease of only mild symptoms, recently Chikungunya virus caused large-scale fatalities and widespread economic loss that was linked to recent virus genetic mutation and evolution. Due to the paucity of information on Chikungunya immunological progression, we investigated the serum levels of 13 cytokines/chemokines during the acute phase of Chikungunya disease and 6- and 12-month post-infection follow-up from patients of the Italian outbreak. We found that CXCL9/MIG, CCL2/MCP-1, IL-6 and CXCL10/IP-10 were significantly raised in the acute phase compared to follow-up samples. Furthermore, IL-1β, TNF-α, Il-12, IL-10, IFN-γ and IL-5 had low initial acute phase levels that significantly increased at later time points. Analysis of symptom severity showed association with CXCL9/MIG, CXCL10/IP-10 and IgG levels. These data give insight into Chikungunya disease establishment and subsequent convalescence, which is imperative to the treatment and containment of this quickly evolving and frequently re-emerging disease

Leggere lo spazio sacro. La Cattedrale di Bari in un approccio interdisciplinare

Il contributo è parte di un saggio scritto a sei mani che nasce dall’avvio di un confronto tra studiosi di ambiti disciplinari complementari, interessati al medesimo oggetto di studio. Lo spazio sacro della Cattedrale barese e le epigrafi in esso presenti vengono, perciò, sottoposti ad una lettura integrata che pone in stretta correlazione le strutture architettoniche, gli arredi scultorei e le iscrizioni che li accompagnano. Il contributo di Giulia Anna Bianca Bordi riguarda la ricostruzione diacronica, e per certi versi stratigrafica, del contesto in cui le opere scultoree esaminate si inseriscono, al fine di restituire una lettura sistematica ed aggiornata del palinsesto di interventi che hanno interessato in particolare l'area presbiteriale della Cattedrale di Bari nel corso dei secoli, fino all'asseto attuale. I contributi di Silvia Calò e Paolo Fioretti - il primo peraltro a condurre approfondite indagini sull'oggetto del presente studio - forniscono una puntuale ed aggiornata analisi paleografica delle scritture presenti sugli arredi liturgici considerati, oltreché considerazioni critiche a più ampio spettro sui dati che esse offrono

Flavohemoglobin and nitric oxide detoxification in the human protozoan parasite Giardia intestinalis

Flavohemoglobins (flavoHbs), commonly found in bacteria and fungi, afford protection from nitrosative stress by degrading nitric oxide (NO) to nitrate. Giardia intestinalis, a microaerophilic parasite causing one of the most common intestinal human infectious diseases worldwide, is the only pathogenic proto-zoon as yet identified coding for a flavoHb. By NO amperometry we show that, in the presence of NADH, the recombinant Giardia flavoHb metabolizes NO with high efficacy under aerobic conditions (TN = 116 +/- 10 s(-1) at 1 mu M NO, T = 37 degrees C). The activity is [O(2)]-dependent and characterized by an apparent K(M.O2) = 22 +/- 7 mu M. Immunoblotting analysis shows that the protein is expressed at low levels in the vegetative trophozoites of Giardia; accordingly, these cells aerobically metabolize NO with low efficacy. Interestingly, in response to nitrosative stress (24-h incubation with >= 5 mM nitrite) flavoHb expression is enhanced and the trophozoites thereby become able to metabolize NO efficiently, the activity being sensitive to both cyanide and carbon monoxide. The NO-donors S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) and DETA-NONOate mimicked the effect of nitrite on flavoHb expression. We propose that physiologically flavoHb contributes to NO detoxification in G. intestinalis. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved