c-Met-Dependent Multipotent Labyrinth Trophoblast Progenitors Establish Placental Exchange Interface

SummaryThe placenta provides the interface for gas and nutrient exchange between the mother and the fetus. Despite its critical function in sustaining pregnancy, the stem/progenitor cell hierarchy and molecular mechanisms responsible for the development of the placental exchange interface are poorly understood. We identified an Epcamhi labyrinth trophoblast progenitor (LaTP) in mouse placenta that at a clonal level generates all labyrinth trophoblast subtypes, syncytiotrophoblasts I and II, and sinusoidal trophoblast giant cells. Moreover, we discovered that hepatocyte growth factor/c-Met signaling is required for sustaining proliferation of LaTP during midgestation. Loss of trophoblast c-Met also disrupted terminal differentiation and polarization of syncytiotrophoblasts, leading to intrauterine fetal growth restriction, fetal liver hypocellularity, and demise. Identification of this c-Met-dependent multipotent LaTP provides a landmark in the poorly defined placental stem/progenitor cell hierarchy and may help us understand pregnancy complications caused by a defective placental exchange

Return to youth with Sox17

Maturation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from fetal to adult state and differentiation to progenitors are thought to follow a one-way street. In this issue of Genes & Development, He and colleagues (pp. 1613–1627) show that overexpression of Sox17 can convert adult multipotential progenitors to self-renewing HSCs that possess fetal properties. These findings challenge the irreversibility of hematopoietic development, and open up new perspectives to understand the different forms of HSC self-renewal at distinct stages of ontogeny and during transformation

Rapid measurement of bacterial contamination in water: A catalase responsive-electrochemical sensor

The present study describes the development of a potentiometric sensor for microbial monitoring in water based on catalase activity. The sensor comprises a MnO2-modified electrode that responds linearly to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) from 0.16 M to 3.26 M. The electrode potential drops when the H2O2 solution is spiked with catalase or catalase-producing microorganisms that decompose H2O2. The sensor is responsive to different bacteria and their catalase activities. The electrochemical sensor exhibits a lower limit of detection (LOD) for Escherichia coli at 11 CFU/ml, Citrobacter youngae at 12 CFU/ml, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa at 23 CFU/ml. The sensor shows high sensitivity at 3.49, 3.02, and 4.24 mV/cm2dec for E. coli, C. youngae, and P. aeruginosa, respectively. The abiotic sensing electrode can be used multiple times without changing the response potential (up to 100 readings) with a shelf-life of over six months. The response time is a few seconds, with a total test time of 5 min. Additionally, the sensor effectively tested actual samples (drinking and grey water), which makes it a quick and reliable sensing tool. Therefore, the study offers a promising water monitoring tool with high sensitivity, stability, good detection limit, and minimum interference from other water contaminants

Impact of dental fear on oral health-related quality of life among school going and non-school going children in Udaipur city: A cross-sectional study

Aim: To assess the impact of dental fear on different domains of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) among school going and non-school going children in the Indian scenario. Materials and Methods: The study sample consisted of 279 school children and 257 non-school going children thus making a total sample of 536 children. The sampling frame comprised of 12-15-year-old children attending two upper primary public schools and non-school going children working at shops or not working in Udaipur city, India. Information on dental fear and OHRQoL was obtained by personal interviews by a single trained and calibrated examiner through a structured questionnaire. Intercooled STATA version 9.2 was employed to perform statistical analysis. The level of significance was set at 5%. Results: Mean dental fear scores among school going (35.41 [11.79]) and non-school going (47.59 [3.80]) children revealed that dental fear was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher among non-school going than among school going children. In school going children, the likelihood of having poor oral symptoms, functional limitation and poorer social and emotional well being were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) lesser as compared with non-school going children. Conclusions: Fear has a significant impact on different domains of OHRQoL, except emotional well being, among non-school going children

Decoupling the Functional Pleiotropy of Stem Cell Factor by Tuning c-Kit Signaling

International audienceMost secreted growth factors and cytokines are functionally pleiotropic because their receptors are expressed on diverse cell types. While important for normal mammalian physiology, pleiotropy limits the efficacy of cytokines and growth factors as therapeutics. Stem cell factor (SCF) is a growth factor that acts through the c-Kit receptor tyrosine kinase to elicit hematopoietic progenitor expansion, but can be toxic when administered in vivo because it concurrently activates mast cells. We engineered a mechanism-based SCF partial agonist that impaired c-Kit dimerization, truncating downstream signaling amplitude. This SCF variant elicited biased activation of hematopoietic progenitors over mast cells in vitro and in vivo. Mouse models of SCF-mediated anaphylaxis, radioprotection, and hematopoietic expansion revealed that this SCF partial agonist retained therapeutic efficacy while exhibiting virtually no anaphylactic off-target effects. The approach of biasing cell activation by tuning signaling thresholds and outputs has applications to many dimeric receptor-ligand systems

Selective targeting of engineered T cells using orthogonal IL-2 cytokine-receptor complexes.

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a cytokine required for effector T cell expansion, survival, and function, especially for engineered T cells in adoptive cell immunotherapy, but its pleiotropy leads to simultaneous stimulation and suppression of immune responses as well as systemic toxicity, limiting its therapeutic use. We engineered IL-2 cytokine-receptor orthogonal (ortho) pairs that interact with one another, transmitting native IL-2 signals, but do not interact with their natural cytokine and receptor counterparts. Introduction of orthoIL-2Rβ into T cells enabled the selective cellular targeting of orthoIL-2 to engineered CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in vitro and in vivo, with limited off-target effects and negligible toxicity. OrthoIL-2 pairs were efficacious in a preclinical mouse cancer model of adoptive cell therapy and may therefore represent a synthetic approach to achieving selective potentiation of engineered cells