A Bilayer Osteochondral Scaffold with Self‐Assembled Monomeric Collagen Type‐I, Type‐II, and Polymerized Chondroitin Sulfate Promotes Chondrogenic and Osteogenic Differentiation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Osteochondral (OC) injuries are suffered by over 40 million patients in Europe alone. Tissue-engineering approaches may provide a more promising alternative over current treatments by potentially eliminating the need for revision surgery and creating a long-term substitute. Herein, the goal is to capture the natural biological and mechanical properties of the joint by developing a bilayer scaffold that is novel in two ways: first, a biomimetic bottom-up approach is used to improve production precision and reduce immunogenicity; monomeric collagen type I and II are self-assembled to fibrils and then processed to 3D scaffolds. Second, to induce a tissue-specific response in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), polymerized chondroitin sulfate (PCS) is synthesized and grafted to collagen II and hydroxyapatite (HA) is added to collagen I. Incorporation of PCS into collagen II induces a chondrogenic response by upregulation of COL2A1 and ACAN expression, and incorporation of HA into collagen I stimulates osteogenesis and upregulates the expression of COL1A2 and RUNX2. It is remarkable that MSCs give rise to distinct behavior of chondrogenesis and osteogenesis in the two different regions of the bilayer scaffold. This hybrid scaffold of collagen II-PCS and collagen I-HA offers a great potential treatment for OC injuries

The Calcitonin and Glucocorticoids Combination: Mechanistic Insights into Their Class-Effect Synergy in Experimental Arthritis

PMCID: PMC3564948This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Non-classical ProIL-1beta activation during mammary gland infection is pathogen-dependent but caspase-1 independent

Infection of the mammary gland with live bacteria elicits a pathogen-specific host inflammatory response. To study these host-pathogen interactions wild type mice, NF-kappaB reporter mice as well as caspase-1 and IL-1beta knockout mice were intramammarily challenged with Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). The murine mastitis model allowed to compare the kinetics of the induced cytokine protein profiles and their underlying pathways. In vivo and ex vivo imaging showed that E. coli rapidly induced NF-kappaB inflammatory signaling concomitant with high mammary levels of TNF-alpha, IL-1 alpha and MCP-1 as determined by multiplex analysis. In contrast, an equal number of S. aureus bacteria induced a low NF-kappaB activity concomitant with high mammary levels of the classical IL-1beta fragment. These quantitative and qualitative differences in local inflammatory mediators resulted in an earlier neutrophil influx and in a more extensive alveolar damage post-infection with E. coli compared to S. aureus. Western blot analysis revealed that the inactive proIL-1beta precursor was processed into pathogen-specific IL-1beta fragmentation patterns as confirmed with IL-1beta knockout animals. Additionally, caspase-1 knockout animals allowed to investigate whether IL-1beta maturation depended on the conventional inflammasome pathway. The lack of caspase-1 did not prevent extensive proIL-1beta fragmentation by either of S. aureus or E. coli. These non-classical IL-1beta patterns were likely caused by different proteases and suggest a sentinel function of IL-1beta during mammary gland infection. Thus, a key signaling nodule can be defined in the differential host innate immune defense upon E. coli versus S. aureus mammary gland infection, which is independent of caspase-1

Aggregated a-synuclein and complex I deficiency: exploration of their relationship in differentiated neurons

α-Synuclein becomes misfolded and aggregated upon damage by various factors, for example, by reactive oxygen species. These aggregated forms have been proposed to have differential toxicities and their interaction with mitochondria may cause dysfunction within this organelle that contributes to the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD). In particular, the association of α-synuclein with mitochondria occurs through interaction with mitochondrial complex I and importantly defects of this protein have been linked to the pathogenesis of PD. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between aggregated α-synuclein and mitochondrial dysfunction, and the consequences of this interaction on cell survival. To do this, we studied the effects of α-synuclein on cybrid cell lines harbouring mutations in either mitochondrial complex I or IV. We found that aggregated α-synuclein inhibited mitochondrial complex I in control and complex IV-deficient cells. However, when aggregated α-synuclein was applied to complex I-deficient cells, there was no additional inhibition of mitochondrial function or increase in cell death. This would suggest that as complex I-deficient cells have already adapted to their mitochondrial defect, the subsequent toxic effects of α-synuclein are reduced

Applying refinement to the use of mice and rats in rheumatoid arthritis research

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a painful, chronic disorder and there is currently an unmet need for effective therapies that will benefit a wide range of patients. The research and development process for therapies and treatments currently involves in vivo studies, which have the potential to cause discomfort, pain or distress. This Working Group report focuses on identifying causes of suffering within commonly used mouse and rat ‘models’ of RA, describing practical refinements to help reduce suffering and improve welfare without compromising the scientific objectives. The report also discusses other, relevant topics including identifying and minimising sources of variation within in vivo RA studies, the potential to provide pain relief including analgesia, welfare assessment, humane endpoints, reporting standards and the potential to replace animals in RA research

Therapeutic Effect of a Poly(ADP-Ribose) Polymerase-1 Inhibitor on Experimental Arthritis by Downregulating Inflammation and Th1 Response

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) synthesizes and transfers ADP ribose polymers to target proteins, and regulates DNA repair and genomic integrity maintenance. PARP-1 also plays a crucial role in the progression of the inflammatory response, and its inhibition confers protection in several models of inflammatory disorders. Here, we investigate the impact of a selective PARP-1 inhibitor in experimental arthritis. PARP-1 inhibition with 5-aminoisoquinolinone (AIQ) significantly reduces incidence and severity of established collagen-induced arthritis, completely abrogating joint swelling and destruction of cartilage and bone. The therapeutic effect of AIQ is associated with a striking reduction of the two deleterious components of the disease, i.e. the Th1-driven autoimmune and inflammatory responses. AIQ downregulates the production of various inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, decreases the antigen-specific Th1-cell expansion, and induces the production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Our results provide evidence of the contribution of PARP-1 to the progression of arthritis and identify this protein as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

Targeting N-myristoylation for therapy of B-cell lymphomas

N-myristoyltransferases (NMTs) target many signaling proteins to membranes. Here the authors show an NMT inhibitor named PCLX-001 selectively kills lymphoma cells by shutting down their main survival signaling pathway and offers an additional treatment strategy for lymphoma patients

Nitrous oxide may not increase the risk of cancer recurrence after colorectal surgery: a follow-up of a randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Even the best cancer surgery is usually associated with minimal residual disease. Whether these remaining malignant cells develop into clinical recurrence is at least partially determined by adequacy of host defense, especially natural killer cell function. Anesthetics impair immune defenses to varying degrees, but nitrous oxide appears to be especially problematic. We therefore tested the hypothesis that colorectal-cancer recurrence risk is augmented by nitrous oxide administration during colorectal surgery.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted a 4- to 8-year follow-up of 204 patients with colorectal cancer who were randomly assigned to 65% nitrous oxide (n = 97) or nitrogen (n = 107), balanced with isoflurane and remifentanil. The primary outcome was the time to cancer recurrence. Our primary analysis was a multivariable Cox-proportional-hazards regression model that included relevant baseline variables. In addition to treatment group, the model considered patient age, tumor grade, dissemination, adjacent organ invasion, vessel invasion, and the number of nodes involved. The study had 80% power to detect a 56% or greater reduction in recurrence rates (i.e., hazard ratio of 0.44 or less) at the 0.05 significance level.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After adjusting for significant baseline covariables, risk of recurrence did not differ significantly for nitrous oxide and nitrogen, with a hazard ratio estimate (95% CI) of 1.10 (0.66, 1.83), <it>P </it>= 0.72. No two-way interactions with the treatment were statistically significant.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Colorectal-cancer recurrence risks were not greatly different in patients who were randomly assigned to 65% nitrous oxide or nitrogen during surgery. Our results may not support avoiding nitrous oxide use to prevent recurrence of colorectal cancer.</p> <p>Implications Statement</p> <p>The risk of colorectal cancer recurrence was similar in patients who were randomly assigned to 65% nitrous oxide or nitrogen during colorectal surgery.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>Current Controlled Clinical Trials NCT00781352 <url>http://www.clinicaltrials.gov</url></p

Development of the Bi-Partite Gal4-UAS System in the African Malaria Mosquito, Anopheles gambiae

Functional genetic analysis in Anopheles gambiae would be greatly improved by the development of a binary expression system, which would allow the more rapid and flexible characterisation of genes influencing disease transmission, including those involved in insecticide resistance, parasite interaction, host and mate seeking behaviour. The Gal4-UAS system, widely used in Drosophila melanogaster functional genetics, has been significantly modified to achieve robust application in several different species. Towards this end, previous work generated a series of modified Gal4 constructs that were up to 20 fold more active than the native gene in An. gambiae cells. To examine the Gal4-UAS system in vivo, transgenic An. gambiae driver lines carrying a modified Gal4 gene under the control of the carboxypeptidase promoter, and responder lines carrying UAS regulated luciferase and eYFP reporter genes have been created. Crossing of the Gal4 and UAS lines resulted in progeny that expressed both reporters in the expected midgut specific pattern. Although there was minor variation in reporter gene activity between the different crosses examined, the tissue specific expression pattern was consistent regardless of the genomic location of the transgene cassettes. The results show that the modified Gal4-UAS system can be used to successfully activate expression of transgenes in a robust and tissue specific manner in Anopheles gambiae. The midgut driver and dual reporter responder constructs are the first to be developed and tested successfully in transgenic An. gambiae and provide the basis for further advancement of the system in this and other insect species