Publications by authors named "Donglan Zeng"

Allergic asthma is a chronic non-communicable disease characterized by lung tissue inflammation. Current treatments can alleviate the clinical symptoms to some extent, but there is still no cure. Recently, the transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has emerged as a potential approach for treating allergic asthma.

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Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have demonstrated potent immunomodulatory properties that have shown promise in the treatment of autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the inherent heterogeneity of MSCs triggered conflicting therapeutic outcomes, raising safety concerns and limiting their clinical application. This study aimed to investigate the potential of extracellular vesicles derived from human gingival mesenchymal stem cells (GMSC-EVs) as a therapeutic strategy for RA.

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Focal iron overload is frequently observed in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), yet its functional significance remains elusive. Herein, we report that iron deposition in lesion aggravates arthritis by inducing macrophage ferroptosis. We show that excessive iron in synovial fluid positively correlates with RA disease severity as does lipid hyperoxidation of focal monocyte/macrophages.

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IL-2 inducible T cell kinase (ITK) is critical in T helper subset differentiation and its inhibition has been suggested for the treatment of T cell-mediated inflammatory diseases. T follicular helper (Tfh), Th17 and regulatory T cells (Treg) also play important roles in the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), while the role of ITK in the development of RA and the intricate balance between effector T and regulatory T cells remains unclear. Here, we found that CD4 T cells from RA patients presented with an elevated ITK activation.

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Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease with limited treatment success, characterized by chronic inflammation and progressive cartilage and bone destruction. Accumulating evidence has shown that neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) released by activated neutrophils are important for initiating and perpetuating synovial inflammation and thereby could be a promising therapeutic target for RA. K/B × N serum transfer-induced arthritis (STIA) is a rapidly developed joint inflammatory model that somehow mimics the inflammatory response in patients with RA.

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Aberrant number and/or dysfunction of CD4Foxp3 Regulatory T cells (T) are associated with the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A previous study has demonstrated that thymus-derived, natural T (nT) prefer to accumulate in inflamed joints and transdifferentiate to T17 cells under the stimulation of inflamed synovial fibroblasts (SFs). In this study, we made a head-to-head comparison of both T subsets and demonstrated that induced T (iT), but not nT, retained Foxp3 expression and regulatory function on T effector cells (T) after being primed with inflamed SFs.

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Recent studies found that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), by virtue of their tissue recovery and immunoregulatory properties, have shown a broad prospect for applications in various autoimmune and degenerative diseases. Although the potential therapeutic use of MSCs is considerable, studies and clinical treatment efficacy are preliminary due to the heterogeneity of MSCs. Herein, based on RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) and single cell sequence properties, we demonstrated that B7-H1 plays an important role in the immunosuppressive function of human gingiva-derived mesenchymal stem cells (GMSCs) in a collagen-induced arthritis murine model that is dependent on STAT3 signaling.

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Osteoporosis is a disease in which the density and quality of bone are reduced, causing bones to become weak and so brittle that a fall or even mild stresses can cause a fracture. Current drug treatment consists mainly of antiresorptive agents that are unable to stimulate new bone formation. Our recent studies have defined a critical role of gingiva-derived mesenchymal stem cells (GMSCs) in attenuating autoimmune arthritis through inhibition of osteoclast formation and activities, but it remains to be ruled out whether the administration of GMSCs to patients with osteoporosis could also regulate osteoblasts and eventually affect bone formation and protection.

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Human gingiva-derived mesenchymal stem cells (GMSCs) have been considered to be a better source of MSCs for cell therapy in some immunological diseases. We describe a protocol for isolation and culture of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from human gingival tissue in detail, which provides a methodology to help clinical researches and clinical trial. GMSCs are generally isolated from a remnant or discarded tissue following a routine dental procedure, then cultured in complete culture medium at 37°C in a humidified tissue culture incubator with 5% CO and 95% O.

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Article Synopsis
  • Atherosclerosis is the main cause of cardiovascular diseases, and inflammation plays a key role in its development.
  • Human gingiva-derived mesenchymal stem cells (GMSC) have shown promise in reducing inflammation and may influence atherosclerosis, which is not well understood.
  • This study found that GMSC infusion reduced inflammatory macrophages, plaque size, and lipid deposits in AopE mice, highlighting their potential in regulating inflammation and combating atherosclerosis.
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