Neurodifferentiation and neuroprotection potential of mesenchymal stromal cell-derived secretome produced in different dynamic systems

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder and is characterized by the degeneration of the dopamine (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, leading to a loss of DA in the basal ganglia. The presence of aggregates of alpha-synuclein (α-synuclein) is seen as the main contributor to the pathogenesis and progression of PD. Evidence suggests that the secretome of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) could be a potential cell-free therapy for PD. However, to accelerate the integration of this therapy in the clinical setting, there is still the need to develop a protocol for the large-scale production of secretome under good manufacturing practices (GMP) guidelines. Bioreactors have the capacity to produce large quantities of secretomes in a scalable manner, surpassing the limitations of planar static culture systems. However, few studies focused on the influence of the culture system used to expand MSC, on the secretome composition. In this work, we studied the capacity of the secretome produced by bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSC) expanded in a spinner flask (SP) and in a Vertical-Wheel™ bioreactor (VWBR) system, to induce neurodifferentiation of human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs) and to prevent dopaminergic neuron degeneration caused by the overexpression of α-synuclein in one Caenorhabditis elegans model of PD. Results showed that secretomes from both systems were able to induce neurodifferentiation, though the secretome produced in the SP system had a greater effect. Additionally, in the conditions of our study, only the secretome produced in SP had a neuroprotective potential. Lastly, the secretomes had different profiles regarding the presence and/or specific intensity of different molecules, namely, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-4, matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP2), and 3 (MMP3), tumor necrosis factor-beta (TNF-β), osteopontin, nerve growth factor beta (NGFβ), granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF), heparin-binding (HB) epithelial growth factor (EGF)-like growth factor (HB-EGF), and IL-13. Overall, our results suggest that the culture conditions might have influenced the secretory profiles of cultured cells and, consequently, the observed effects. Additional studies should further explore the effects that different culture systems have on the secretome potential of PD.This work has been funded by la Caixa Foundation and Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the agreement LCF/PR/HP20/52300001; ICVS Scientific Microscopy Platform, member of the national infrastructure PPBI—Portuguese Platform of Bioimaging (PPBI-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022122); by National funds, through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)—project UIDB/50026/2020 and UIDP/50026/2020. CRM was supported by a Ph.D. scholarship from FCT and the company Stemmatters, Biotecnologia e Medicina Regenerativa SA (PD/BDE/127833/2016). Funding received by iBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences from FCT (UID/BIO/04565/2020) and through the project PTDC/EQU-EQU/31651/2017 is acknowledged. MAF was supported by a Ph.D. scholarship from FCT (SFRH/PD/BD/128328/2017). RC was supported by the EXOpro project (PTDC/EQU-QUE/31651/2017). JPS was supported by a Ph.D. scholarship from FCT and the company Bn’ML—Behavioral & Molecular Lab (PD/BDE/127834/2016). DS was supported by a Ph.D. scholarship from FCT and the company Stemmatters, Biotecnologia e Medicina Regenerativa S.A. (PD/BDE/135567/2018) JC was supported by a Ph.D. scholarship from FCT (SFRH/BD/5813/2020)

Strengths and limitations of microarray-based phenotype prediction: lessons learned from the IMPROVER Diagnostic Signature Challenge

Motivation: After more than a decade since microarrays were used to predict phenotype of biological samples, real-life applications for disease screening and identification of patients who would best benefit from treatment are still emerging. The interest of the scientific community in identifying best approaches to develop such prediction models was reaffirmed in a competition style international collaboration called IMPROVER Diagnostic Signature Challenge whose results we describe herein. Results: Fifty-four teams used public data to develop prediction models in four disease areas including multiple sclerosis, lung cancer, psoriasis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and made predictions on blinded new data that we generated. Teams were scored using three metrics that captured various aspects of the quality of predictions, and best performers were awarded. This article presents the challenge results and introduces to the community the approaches of the best overall three performers, as well as an R package that implements the approach of the best overall team. The analyses of model performance data submitted in the challenge as well as additional simulations that we have performed revealed that (i) the quality of predictions depends more on the disease endpoint than on the particular approaches used in the challenge; (ii) the most important modeling factor (e.g. data preprocessing, feature selection and classifier type) is problem dependent; and (iii) for optimal results datasets and methods have to be carefully matched. Biomedical factors such as the disease severity and confidence in diagnostic were found to be associated with the misclassification rates across the different teams. Availability: The lung cancer dataset is available from Gene Expression Omnibus (accession, GSE43580). The maPredictDSC R package implementing the approach of the best overall team is available at www.bioconductor.org or http://bioinformaticsprb.med.wayne.edu/. Contact: [email protected] Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics onlin

NR5A2/LRH-1 regulates the PTGS2-PGE2-PTGER1 pathway contributing to pancreatic islet survival and function

LRH-1/NR5A2 is implicated in islet morphogenesis postnatally, and its activation using the agonist BL001 protects islets against apoptosis, reverting hyperglycemia in mouse models of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus. Islet transcriptome profiling revealed that the expression of PTGS2/COX2 is increased by BL001. Herein, we sought to define the role of LRH-1 in postnatal islet morphogenesis and chart the BL001 mode of action conferring beta cell protection. LRH-1 ablation within developing beta cells impeded beta cell proliferation, correlating with mouse growth retardation, weight loss, and hypoglycemia leading to lethality. LRH-1 deletion in adult beta cells abolished the BL001 antidiabetic action, correlating with beta cell destruction and blunted Ptgs2 induction. Islet PTGS2 inactivation led to reduced PGE levels and loss of BL001 protection against cytokines as evidenced by increased cytochrome c release and cleaved-PARP. The PTGER1 antagonist—ONO-8130—negated BL001-mediated islet survival. Our results define the LRH-1/PTGS2/PGE/PTGER1 signaling axis as a key pathway mediating BL001 survival properties.The authors are supported by grants from the Consejería de Salud, Fundación Pública Andaluza Progreso y Salud, Junta de Andalucía (PI-0727-2010 to B.R.G., PI-0085-2013 to P.I.L., PI-0247-2016 to F.J.B.S.), the Consejería de Economía, Innovación y Ciencia (P10.CTS.6359 to B.R.G.), the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación co-funded by Fondos FEDER (PI10/00871, PI13/00593 and BFU2017-83588-P to B.R.G and PI17/01004 to F.J.B.S.), Vencer el Cancer (B.R.G), DiabetesCero (B.R.G.) and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Ltd (17-2013-372 and 2-SRA-2019-837-S-B to B.R.G.). E.M.V. is recipient of a Fellowship from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación co-funded by Fondos FEDER (PRE2018-084907). F.J.B.S. is a recipient of a "Nicolás Monardes" research contracts from Consejería de Salud Junta de Andalucía, (C-0070-2012). A.M.M. is supported by CPII19/00023 and PI18/01590 from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III co-funded by Fondos FEDER. V.C. is supported by a AECC investigator award. CIBERDEM is an initiative of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III

Menarche, pregnancies, and breastfeeding do not modify long-term prognosis in multiple sclerosis

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of menarche, pregnancies, and breastfeeding on the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) and disability accrual using a multivariate approach based on a large prospective cohort of patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS).MethodsA cross-sectional survey of the reproductive information of female participants in a CIS cohort was performed. We examined the relationship of age at menarche with the risk of clinically definite MS (CDMS), McDonald 2010 MS, and Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) 3.0 and 6.0. The effect of pregnancy (before and after CIS) and breastfeeding in the risk of CDMS, McDonald 2010 MS, and EDSS 3.0 was also examined. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed and findings were confirmed using sensitivity analyses and a propensity score model.ResultsThe data of 501 female participants were collected. Age at menarche did not correlate with age at CIS and was not associated with the risk of CDMS or EDSS 3.0 or 6.0. Pregnancy before CIS was protective for CDMS in the univariate analysis, but the effect was lost in the multivariate model and did not modify the risk of EDSS 3.0. Pregnancy after CIS was protective for both outcomes in univariate and multivariate analyses when pregnancy was considered a baseline variable, but the protective effect disappeared when analyzed as a time-dependent event. Breastfeeding did not modify the risk for the 3 outcomes.ConclusionsThese results demonstrate that menarche, pregnancies, and breastfeeding did not substantially modify the risk of CDMS or disability accrual using a multivariable and time-dependent approach

Experimental Evolution of an Oncolytic Vesicular Stomatitis Virus with Increased Selectivity for p53-Deficient Cells

Experimental evolution has been used for various biotechnological applications including protein and microbial cell engineering, but less commonly in the field of oncolytic virotherapy. Here, we sought to adapt a rapidly evolving RNA virus to cells deficient for the tumor suppressor gene p53, a hallmark of cancer cells. To achieve this goal, we established four independent evolution lines of the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) in p53-knockout mouse embryonic fibroblasts (p53−/− MEFs) under conditions favoring the action of natural selection. We found that some evolved viruses showed increased fitness and cytotoxicity in p53−/− cells but not in isogenic p53+/+ cells, indicating gene-specific adaptation. However, full-length sequencing revealed no obvious or previously described genetic changes associated with oncolytic activity. Half-maximal effective dose (EC50) assays in mouse p53-positive colon cancer (CT26) and p53-deficient breast cancer (4T1) cells indicated that the evolved viruses were more effective against 4T1 cells than the parental virus or a reference oncolytic VSV (MΔ51), but showed no increased efficacy against CT26 cells. In vivo assays using 4T1 syngeneic tumor models showed that one of the evolved lines significantly delayed tumor growth compared to mice treated with the parental virus or untreated controls, and was able to induce transient tumor suppression. Our results show that RNA viruses can be specifically adapted typical cancer features such as p53 inactivation, and illustrate the usefulness of experimental evolution for oncolytic virotherapy

IVRIPARC project: a method for assessing the impact of global change on geoheritage of the Canary Islands national parks (Spain)

El patrimonio geológico y la geodiversidad de los parques nacionales contribuyen, junto con la biodiversidad, para que sean espacios naturales protegidos únicos en el país, pero también únicos a nivel mundial. El patrimonio geológico es de carácter no renovable, de tal forma que, si se pierden o degradan, lo hacen para siempre. Ante el escenario del cambio global, el patrimonio geológico de los parques nacionales canarios es muy vulnerable a los impactos rovocados por los cambios en la temperatura, avenidas torrenciales, tormentas extremas, sequías, desertificación y ascenso del nivel del mar, fundamentalmente, y a los impactos derivados de la actividad humana. Estos fenómenos provocan la activación de procesos geológicos que afectan directamente a su conservación, de tal forma que es necesario identificar los Lugares de Interés Geológico más amenazados, evaluar su incidencia y establecer los indicadores a escala de cada parque nacional para realizar su seguimiento. Conocer el estado de conservación actual, su vulnerabilidad y sus amenazas directas contribuirá a la gestión de los parques para el proceso de adaptación y mitigación del cambio global.The geoheritage and geodiversity of the national parks contribute, together with biodiversity, to make them protected natural areas that are unique in Spain, but also unique worldwide. Geoheritage is non-renewable and if it is lost or degraded it does so forever. Under the Global Change and Climate Change scenario, the geoheritage of the Canary national parks is highly vulnerable to the impacts caused by changes in temperature, flash floods, extreme storms, droughts, desertification, fires and sea level rise, fundamentally and to the impacts directly derived from human activity. These phenomena trigger the activation of geological processes that directly affect their conservation, in such a way that it is necessary to identify the geosites most threatened, to evaluate their impact and to establish the indicators at the scale of each national park for monitoring them. The knowledge of the current conservation status of geoheritage, its vulnerability and its direct threats will contribute to the management of the national parks for the process of adaptation and mitigation of Global Change.Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaDepto. de Mineralogía y PetrologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEOrganismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionalespu

A group randomized trial of a complexity-based organizational intervention to improve risk factors for diabetes complications in primary care settings: study protocol

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Most patients with type 2 diabetes have suboptimal control of their glucose, blood pressure (BP), and lipids – three risk factors for diabetes complications. Although the chronic care model (CCM) provides a roadmap for improving these outcomes, developing theoretically sound implementation strategies that will work across diverse primary care settings has been challenging. One explanation for this difficulty may be that most strategies do not account for the complex adaptive system (CAS) characteristics of the primary care setting. A CAS is comprised of individuals who can learn, interconnect, self-organize, and interact with their environment in a way that demonstrates non-linear dynamic behavior. One implementation strategy that may be used to leverage these properties is practice facilitation (PF). PF creates time for learning and reflection by members of the team in each clinic, improves their communication, and promotes an individualized approach to implement a strategy to improve patient outcomes.</p> <p>Specific objectives</p> <p>The specific objectives of this protocol are to: evaluate the effectiveness and sustainability of PF to improve risk factor control in patients with type 2 diabetes across a variety of primary care settings; assess the implementation of the CCM in response to the intervention; examine the relationship between communication within the practice team and the implementation of the CCM; and determine the cost of the intervention both from the perspective of the organization conducting the PF intervention and from the perspective of the primary care practice.</p> <p>Intervention</p> <p>The study will be a group randomized trial conducted in 40 primary care clinics. Data will be collected on all clinics, with 60 patients in each clinic, using a multi-method assessment process at baseline, 12, and 24 months. The intervention, PF, will consist of a series of practice improvement team meetings led by trained facilitators over 12 months. Primary hypotheses will be tested with 12-month outcome data. Sustainability of the intervention will be tested using 24 month data. Insights gained will be included in a delayed intervention conducted in control practices and evaluated in a pre-post design.</p> <p>Primary and secondary outcomes</p> <p>To test hypotheses, the unit of randomization will be the clinic. The unit of analysis will be the repeated measure of each risk factor for each patient, nested within the clinic. The repeated measure of glycosylated hemoglobin A1c will be the primary outcome, with BP and Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol as secondary outcomes. To study change in risk factor level, a hierarchical or random effect model will be used to account for the nesting of repeated measurement of risk factor within patients and patients within clinics.</p> <p>This protocol follows the CONSORT guidelines and is registered per ICMJE guidelines:</p> <p>Clinical Trial Registration Number</p> <p>NCT00482768</p

Inter-Rater Variability in the Evaluation of Lung Ultrasound in Videos Acquired from COVID-19 Patients

12 páginas, 7 figuras, 1 tablaLung ultrasound (LUS) allows for the detection of a series of manifestations of COVID-19, such as B-lines and consolidations. The objective of this work was to study the inter-rater reliability (IRR) when detecting signs associated with COVID-19 in the LUS, as well as the performance of the test in a longitudinal or transverse orientation. Thirty-three physicians with advanced experience in LUS independently evaluated ultrasound videos previously acquired using the ULTRACOV system on 20 patients with confirmed COVID-19. For each patient, 24 videos of 3 s were acquired (using 12 positions with the probe in longitudinal and transverse orientations). The physicians had no information about the patients or other previous evaluations. The score assigned to each acquisition followed the convention applied in previous studies. A substantial IRR was found in the cases of normal LUS (κ = 0.74), with only a fair IRR for the presence of individual B-lines (κ = 0.36) and for confluent B-lines occupying 50% (κ = 0.50). No statistically significant differences between the longitudinal and transverse scans were found. The IRR for LUS of COVID-19 patients may benefit from more standardized clinical protocols.This research was partially funded by CDTI (Spanish acronym: Centre for Industrial Tech- nological Development), funding number COI-20201153. Partially supported by the Google Cloud Research Credits program with the funding number GCP19980904, by the project RTI2018-099118- A-I00 founded by MCIU/AEI/FEDER UE and by the European Commission–NextGenerationEU, through CSIC’s Global Health Platform (PTI Salud Global)