Enriched protein screening of human bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cell secretions reveals MFAP5 and PENK as novel IL-10 modulators

The secreted proteins from a cell constitute a natural biologic library that can offer significant insight into human health and disease. Discovering new secreted proteins from cells is bounded by the limitations of traditional separation and detection tools to physically fractionate and analyze samples. Here, we present a new method to systematically identify bioactive cell-secreted proteins that circumvent traditional proteomic methods by first enriching for protein candidates by differential gene expression profiling. The bone marrow stromal cell secretome was analyzed using enriched gene expression datasets in combination with potency assay testing. Four proteins expressed by stromal cells with previously unknown anti-inflammatory properties were identified, two of which provided a significant survival benefit to mice challenged with lethal endotoxic shock. Greater than 85% of secreted factors were recaptured that were otherwise undetected by proteomic methods, and remarkable hit rates of 18% in vitro and 9% in vivo were achieved

Pharmacokinetics of Natural and Engineered Secreted Factors Delivered by Mesenchymal Stromal Cells

Transient cell therapy is an emerging drug class that requires new approaches for pharmacological monitoring during use. Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a clinically-tested transient cell therapeutic that naturally secrete anti-inflammatory factors to attenuate immune-mediated diseases. MSCs were used as a proof-of-concept with the hypothesis that measuring the release of secreted factors after cell transplantation, rather than the biodistribution of the cells alone, would be an alternative monitoring tool to understand the exposure of a subject to MSCs. By comparing cellular engraftment and the associated serum concentration of secreted factors released from the graft, we observed clear differences between the pharmacokinetics of MSCs and their secreted factors. Exploration of the effects of natural or engineered secreted proteins, active cellular secretion pathways, and clearance mechanisms revealed novel aspects that affect the systemic exposure of the host to secreted factors from a cellular therapeutic. We assert that a combined consideration of cell delivery strategies and molecular pharmacokinetics can provide a more predictive model for outcomes of MSC transplantation and potentially other transient cell therapeutics

Nest Making and Oxytocin Comparably Promote Wound Healing in Isolation Reared Rats

Background: Environmental enrichment (EE) fosters attachment behavior through its effect on brain oxytocin levels in the hippocampus and other brain regions, which in turn modulate the hypothalamic-pituitary axis (HPA). Social isolation and other stressors negatively impact physical healing through their effect on the HPA. Therefore, we reasoned that: 1) provision of a rat EE (nest building with Nestlets®) would improve wound healing in rats undergoing stress due to isolation rearing and 2) that oxytocin would have a similar beneficial effect on wound healing. Methodology/Principal Findings: In the first two experiments, we provided isolation reared rats with either EE or oxytocin and compared their wound healing to group reared rats and isolation reared rats that did not receive Nestlets or oxytocin. In the third experiment, we examined the effect of Nestlets on open field locomotion and immediate early gene (IEG) expression. We found that isolation reared rats treated with Nestlets a) healed significantly better than without Nestlets, 2) healed at a similar rate to rats treated with oxytocin, 3) had decreased hyperactivity in the open field test, and 4) had normalized IEG expression in brain hippocampus. Conclusions/Significance: This study shows that when an EE strategy or oxytocin is given to isolation reared rats, the peripheral stress response, as measured by burn injury healing, is decreased. The findings indicate an association between the effect of nest making on wound healing and administration of the pro-bonding hormone oxytocin. Further elucidation of this animal model should lead to improved understanding of how EE strategies can ameliorate poor wound healing and other symptoms that result from isolation stress

Thermodynamic and kinetic characterization of antisense oligodeoxynucleotide binding to a structured mRNA.

Antisense oligonucleotides act as exogenous inhibitors of gene expression by binding to a complementary sequence on the target mRNA, preventing translation into protein. Antisense technology is being applied successfully as a research tool and as a molecular therapeutic. However, a quantitative understanding of binding energetics between short oligonucleotides and longer mRNA targets is lacking, and selecting a high-affinity antisense oligonucleotide sequence from the many possibilities complementary to a particular RNA is a critical step in designing an effective antisense inhibitor. Here, we report measurements of the thermodynamics and kinetics of hybridization for a number of oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) complementary to the rabbit beta-globin (RBG) mRNA using a binding assay that facilitates rapid separation of bound from free species in solution. A wide range of equilibrium dissociation constants were observed, and association rate constants within the measurable range correlated strongly with binding affinity. In addition, a significant correlation was observed of measured binding affinities with binding affinity values predicted using a thermodynamic model involving DNA and RNA unfolding, ODN hybridization, and RNA restructuring to a final free energy minimum. In contrast to the behavior observed for hybridization of short strands, the association rate constant increased with temperature, suggesting that the kinetics of association are related to disrupting the native structure of the target RNA. The rate of cleavage of the RBG mRNA in the presence of ribonuclease H and ODNs of varying association kinetics displayed apparent first-order kinetics, with the rate constant exhibiting binding-limited behavior at low association rates and reaction-limited behavior at higher rates. Implications for the rational design of effective antisense reagents are discussed