Evidence of Müller Glia Conversion Into Retina Ganglion Cells Using Neurogenin2.

Degenerative retinopathies are the leading causes of irreversible visual impairment in the elderly, affecting hundreds of millions of patients. Müller glia cells (MGC), the main type of glia found in the vertebrate retina, can resume proliferation in the rodent adult injured retina but contribute weakly to tissue repair when compared to zebrafish retina. However, postnatal and adult mouse MGC can be genetically reprogrammed through the expression of the transcription factor (TF) Achaete-scute homolog 1 (ASCL1) into induced neurons (iNs), displaying key hallmarks of photoreceptors, bipolar and amacrine cells, which may contribute to regenerate the damaged retina.

Laminin-Mediated Interactions in Thymocyte Migration and Development.

Intrathymic T-cell differentiation is a key process for the development and maintenance of cell-mediated immunity, and occurs concomitantly to highly regulated migratory events. We have proposed a multivectorial model for describing intrathymic thymocyte migration. One of the individual vectors comprises interactions mediated by laminins (LMs), a heterotrimeric protein family of the extracellular matrix.

ITGA6 gene silencing by RNA interference modulates the expression of a large number of cell migration-related genes in human thymic epithelial cells.

Background: The thymic epithelium is the major microenvironmental component of the thymus, the primary lymphoid organ responsible for the generation of T lymphocytes. Thymic epithelial cells (TEC) control intrathymic T cell differentiation by means of distinct types of interactions. TEC constitutively produce chemokines and extracellular matrix ligands (such as laminin and fibronectin) and express corresponding receptors, which allow thymocytes to migrate in a very ordered fashion.