Mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes: A promising therapeutic ace card to address autoimmune diseases

With the development of novel treatments for autoimmune disorders, it has become a popular research focus which mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the capacity to counteract with autoimmune diseases progression. One of the underlying mechanisms behind their activities is the release of extracellular vesicles especially exosomes. MSC-derived exosomes are hypoimmunogenic nanocarriers which contain numerous immunoregulatory factors and similar to other exosomes, are able to pass through boundaries like the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Accumulating evidence provided by animal studies has demonstrated that MSC-derived exosomes, as a novel therapy, can re-induce self-tolerance, without subsequent complications reported for other treatments. Therefore, therapeutic applications of MSC-derived exosomes are contributing to core advances in the field of autoimmune diseases. Here, we briefly describe the biological characteristics of MSC-derived exosomes and review the experimentally verified outcomes for autoimmune disease therapy purposes. © 2020 by the Korean Society for Stem Cell Research

<i>Virgatasporites</i> and <i>Attritasporites</i>: the oldest land plant derived spores, cryptospores or acritarchs?

peer reviewe

A survey on the effect of Cochlodinium.sp bloom on shrimp culture complexes and hatcheries activities in Bushehr Province

The aims of this project was to inform and aware about the red tide condition before entering the algal bloomer in water resources to the hatcheries and farmed shrimp complexes in Bushehr province coastal. Field investigation and sampling have been carried out in the southern of the input water channels of Mond, Delvar and Helleh farmed shrimp complexes, which are located along the coastal of Bushehr Province, from April to December 2011 .The physic-chemical parameters such as pH, salinity and water temperature and also meteorological conditions were measured and recorded on the field. The water sampling has been lunched for determination of nutrients and chlorophyll - a, phyto- and zoo- planktons. No Cochlodinium.sp outbreaks have been detected in the studied area, during the study. The only bloom which reported by a fisherman, was outbreak in offshore of Bushehr province in Khoure Khan on 13th September 2011. The sample which transferred to the Iranian National Shrimp Research Institute was included Alexandrium.sp and its density was 2 million cells per liter. The identified phytoplanktons were belonged to three order of Bacillariophyceae (52.6%) with average density of 10778 cells per liter, Dinophyceae (37.7%) with density of 7731 cells per liter and Cyanophyceae (9.7%) with density of 1980 cells. 12 genera belonged to Dinophyceae , 25 genera of Bacillariophyceae and two genera of Cyanophyceae were observed during the study. The highest density of phytoplankton was recorded in Helleh station by 18374 cells per liter. The maximum density of phytoplankton was at Delvar station by 141120 cells per liter in December. The highest density of the phytoplanktons was belonged to Dinophyceae by 126000 by cells per liter of which the Alexandrium.sp had the density of 124500 cells per liter in August 2011. From the Dinophyceae the Alexandrium.sp with mean density of 20345 cells per liter, Ornithocercus 920 cells and Prorocentrum.sp 820 cells were the predominant species. The identified Zooplankton in were belonged to 8 branches and 19 groups. The highest density of zooplankton was recorded in Helleh station by 1194 no. per liter. Nauplii were the dominant zooplankton groups with an average density of 136.4 no. per liter, Tintinnids 98.7, Cyclopoida 60.8, Calanoida 35.7 and Harpacticoids 14.5 no. per liter . The average of water and air temperature was recorded 29.4 °C and 28.3 °C, respectively. Average of salinity was 41.2 and pH was 8.46. The average of depth in all stations was 5.7 m. The mean concentrations of silicate, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia and total phosphate were 1.99, 0.03, 0.009, 0.14 0.15 ppm, respectively and the average of chlorophyll - a was 0.94 mg.m-3

Altered expression of miR-326 in T cell-derived exosomes of patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

Invasion of auto-reactive CD4+ T cells especially Th17 into central nervous system (CNS) is an underlying pathogenic mechanism in multiple sclerosis (MS). CD4+ T cells release exosomes which are enriched in microRNAs, reflective of cell�s physiological or pathological condition. Thus exosomes could be potent agents to provide quantitative and qualitative information about involved cells in MS. We investigated the expression of pathogenic microRNAs in T cells-derived exosomes of MS patients or healthy controls. Conventional T cells (Tconv) derived from relapsing-remitting (RR) MS patients (n=10) and healthy controls (n=10) were purified and cultured for 3 days by soluble anti-CD3/CD28. Exosomes were purified from cultured-T cells supernatants. The expression levels of exosomal miR-146a, miR-29a, miR-155, and miR-326 were quantified by real-time PCR. A statistically significant increased expression of miR-326 in Tconv-derived exosomes was observed in RRMS patients as compared with controls (7.5±1.88vs 2.51±0.9 p=0.03), On the contrary, no differences were found in the expression levels of miR-155, miR-146a, and miR-29a, in Tconv-derived exosomes of patients as compared with controls (p>0.05). Our results point to altered expression in exosome-derived microRNAs. MiR-326 was previously shown to play a role in the immunopathogenesis of MS by inducing TH17 differentiation and maturation. Therefore, miR-326 containing exosomes might also be a potential clinical target in course of MS. Moreover, the deregulation of this miRNA in exosomes may serve as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker. Copyright© February 2019, Iran J Allergy Asthma Immunol. All rights reserved

Hierarchy Decision Model for Managing Innovative R&D Product Development Projects

Technological innovation is critical to any organization’s ability to survive and grow in today’s business environment. It is widely accepted that companies’ ability to effectively manage its Research and Development (R&D) investments and portfolio in order to deliver value through technological innovation is a key determinant of its market success and competitive advantage [13]. With globalization, Companies’ have a broader access to information and markets which have resulted in amplifying the need for technological innovation in order to succeed over the long term [11]. Although companies have access to and use tools to measure quantitative aspect of the business especially on the input side of innovation, it has been proven much more challenge to measure the qualitative aspect of innovation. Technology managers and leaders need methodological assessment tools in order to decide among the active technologically innovative projects in their organization. This paper focuses on technologically innovative projects where R&D managers are not able to directly leverage knowledge from past project successes and failures. The objective of this project is to develop a decision model based on Mission, Objectives, Goals and Activities (MOGSA) model developed by Dr. Kocaoglu and his team [18] in order to enable the management to relatively rank various projects in their R&D Portfolio. Using the relative rank from the decision model, R&D managers are able to determine appropriate funding allocation; in some cases resulting in termination of one or more projects with lower future potential in order to provide additional funding for more promising projects

Exome sequencing reveals novel rare variants in Iranian familial multiple sclerosis: The importance of POLD2 in the disease pathogenesis

The prevalence of familial multiple sclerosis (FMS) is increasing worldwide which endorses the heritability of the disease. Given that many genome variations are ethnicity-specific and consanguineous marriage could affect genetic diseases, hereditary disease gene analysis among FMS patients from Iran, a country with high rates of parental consanguinity, could be highly effective in finding mutations underlying disease pathogenesis. To examine rare genetic mutations, we selected three Iranian FMS cases with �3 MS patients in more than one generation and performed whole exome sequencing. We identified a homozygous rare missense variant in POLD2 (p. Arg141Cys; rs372336011). Molecular dynamics analysis showed reduced polar dehydration energy and conformational changes in POLD2 mutant. Further, we found a heterozygote rare missense variant in NBFP1 (p. Gly487Asp; rs778806175). Our study revealed the possible role of novel rare variants in FMS. Molecular dynamic simulation provided the initial evidence of the structural changes behind POLD2 mutant. © 2021 Elsevier Inc

Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells as well as their released exosomes suppress proliferation of activated PBMCs in multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a central nervous system (CNS) degenerative disorder which is caused by a targeted autoimmune-mediated attack on myelin proteins. Previously, mesenchymal stem cells were considered as a novel and successful treatment of MS. One of the underlying mechanisms behind their immunomodulatory function is the release of extracellular vesicles, particularly exosomes. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the suppressive efficacy of MSCs and their exosomes on the proliferation of peripheral mononuclear blood cells (PBMC) in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients and healthy subjects. To do, mesenchymal stem cells were derived from human umbilical cord tissues and used for exosome isolation through ultracentrifugation. Suppressive function of MSCs and MSC-derived exosomes was examined in a coculture with CFSE-labelled PBMCs in vitro. PBMC proliferation of the patients and healthy individuals was measured using flow cytometry. We first demonstrated that proliferation of PBMCs decreased in the presence of MSCs and suppression was more efficient by MSC-derived exosomes, with a minimum alloreaction rate. However, suppression capacity of MSCs and their exosomes significantly decreased during extensive sub-culturing. The present study showed that MSC-derived exosomes as an effective cell-free therapy could prevent proliferation of PBMCs. However, further evaluations are need to move towards a functional approach that can be translated to the clinic. © 2020 The Scandinavian Foundation for Immunolog

Energy efficient transmitters for high data rate biomedical applications

10.1109/IEEE-IWS.2013.66168152013 IEEE International Wireless Symposium, IWS 2013