Publications by authors named "Elisa Ceccherini"

Article Synopsis
  • - Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) are chronic liver diseases that damage bile ducts and lead to liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, but no specific biomarkers exist to differentiate them.
  • - This study analyzed saliva samples from 6 PBC patients using advanced mass spectrometry, comparing the results with samples from PSC patients, and identified 40 proteins that were significantly deregulated in PSC.
  • - The research revealed that some of these proteins are involved in immune responses and cytoskeleton remodeling, suggesting that saliva could be a valuable source for discovering biomarkers to differentiate between PSC and PBC.
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Vascular calcification (VC) is a cardiovascular disease characterized by calcium salt deposition in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Standard in vitro models used in VC investigations are based on VSMC monocultures under static conditions. Although these platforms are easy to use, the absence of interactions between different cell types and dynamic conditions makes these models insufficient to study key aspects of vascular pathophysiology.

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Introduction: Complement factor H (FH) is a major regulator of the complement alternative pathway, its mutations predispose to an uncontrolled activation in the kidney and on blood cells and to secondary C3 deficiency. Plasma exchange has been used to correct for FH deficiency and although the therapeutic potential of purified FH has been suggested by experiments in animal models, a clinical approved FH concentrate is not yet available. We aimed to develop a purification process of FH from a waste fraction rather than whole plasma allowing a more efficient and ethical use of blood and plasma donations.

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  • ARSACS is a rare neurodegenerative disease caused by mutations in the sacsin gene that disrupts various cellular processes, and effective treatments are still being explored.
  • The study used untargeted proteomics to analyze protein differences in ARSACS fibroblasts compared to normal controls, revealing insights about biochemical pathways affected by sacsin loss.
  • The findings highlighted abnormal calcium levels and lipid profiles in ARSACS cells, specifically increased ceramides and decreased diacylglycerols, suggesting these factors are linked to the disease.
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  • CLN8 is a receptor involved in cellular processes, and its dysfunction leads to a neurodegenerative disorder known as neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, with no current therapies targeting the disease.
  • This study focuses on understanding the molecular pathways affected by CLN8 loss and aims to find potential treatments by using a new zebrafish model that mimics the disease's characteristics.
  • Researchers discovered that CLN8 dysfunction disrupts autophagy and found that compounds like trehalose and SG2 can help alleviate disease symptoms in zebrafish, suggesting new avenues for treatment.
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Background: Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a rare chronic inflammatory liver disease characterized by biliary strictures and cholestasis. Due to the lack of effective serological indicators for diagnosis and prognosis, in the present study, we examined the potentiality of the saliva proteome to comprehensively screen for novel biomarkers.

Methods: Saliva samples of PSC patients and healthy controls were processed and subsequently analyzed using a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry technique.

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Curcumin is a natural polyphenol that exhibits a variety of beneficial effects on health, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and hepato-protective properties. Due to its poor water solubility and membrane permeability, in the present study, we prepared and characterized a water-stable, freely dispersible nanoformulation of curcumin. Although the potential of curcumin nanoformulations in the hepatic field has been studied, there are no investigations on their effect in fibrotic pathological conditions involving cholangiocytes.

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Vascular calcification is a systemic disease characterized by calcium salt deposition within vascular walls. Here, we present a protocol for establishing an advanced dynamic in vitro co-culture system using endothelial and smooth muscle cells to replicate vascular tissue complexity. We describe steps for cell culture and seeding in a double-flow bioreactor that recreates the action of blood in humans.

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Plastic use dramatically increased over the past few years. Besides obvious benefits, the consequent plastic waste and mismanagement in disposal have caused ecological problems. Plastic abandoned in the environment is prone to segregation, leading to the generation of microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs), which can reach aquatic and terrestrial organisms.

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Vascular calcification is a systemic disease contributing to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The pathophysiology of vascular calcification involves calcium salt deposition by vascular smooth muscle cells that exhibit an osteoblast-like phenotype. Multiple conditions drive the phenotypic switch and calcium deposition in the vascular wall; however, the exact molecular mechanisms and the connection between vascular smooth muscle cells and other cell types are not fully elucidated.

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The overall increase in cardiovascular diseases and, specifically, the ever-rising exposure to cardiotoxic compounds has greatly increased animal testing; however, mainly due to ethical concerns related to experimental animal models, there is a strong interest in new models focused on the human heart. In recent years, human pluripotent stem cells-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) emerged as reference cell systems for cardiac studies due to their biological similarity to primary CMs, the flexibility in cell culture protocols, and the capability to be amplified several times. Furthermore, the ability to be genetically reprogrammed makes patient-derived hiPSCs, a source for studies on personalized medicine.

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Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a complex autoimmune disorder that particularly affects the salivary and lachrymal glands, generally causing a typical dryness of the eyes and of the mouth. The disease encompasses diverse clinical representations and is characterized by B-cell polyclonal activation and autoantibodies production, including anti-Ro/SSA. Recently, it has been suggested that autoantibody profiling may enable researchers to identify susceptible asymptomatic individuals in a pre-disease state.

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TGF-β is a cytokine implicated in multiple cellular responses, including cell cycle regulation, fibrogenesis, angiogenesis and immune modulation. In response to pro-inflammatory and chemotactic cytokines and growth factors, cholangiocytes prime biliary damage, characteristic of cholangiopathies and pathologies that affect biliary tree. The effects and signaling related to TGF-β in cholangiocyte remains poorly investigated.

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Background: Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease. The balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory factors, acting on the arterial wall, promotes less or more coronary plaque macro-calcification, respectively. We investigated the association between monocyte phenotypic polarization and CTCA-assessed plaque dense-calcium volume (DCV) in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD).

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Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a complex heterogeneous disease characterized by a wide spectrum of glandular and extra-glandular manifestations. In this pilot study, a SWATH-MS approach was used to monitor extracellular vesicles-enriched saliva (EVs) sub-proteome in pSS patients, to compare it with whole saliva (WS) proteome, and assess differential expressed proteins between pSS and healthy control EVs samples. Comparison between EVs and WS led to the characterization of compartment-specific proteins with a moderate degree of overlap.

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Cell signalling is tightly regulated by post-translational modification of proteins. Among them, phosphorylation is one of the most interesting and important. Identifying phosphorylation sites on proteins is challenging and requires strategies for pre-separation and enrichment of the phosphorylated species.

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Background And Aims: Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease with long-lasting activation of innate immunity and monocytes are the main blood cellular effectors. We aimed to investigate monocyte phenotype (subset fraction and marker expression) at different stages of coronary atherosclerosis in stable coronary artery disease (CAD) patients.

Methods: 73 patients with chronic coronary syndrome were evaluated by CT coronary angiography (CTCA) and classified by maximal diameter stenosis of major vessels into three groups of CAD severity: CAD1 (no CAD/minimal CAD, ° = 30), CAD2 (non-obstructive CAD, ° = 21), and CAD3 (obstructive CAD, ° = 22).

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Primary sclerosing cholangitis is a complex pathological condition, characterized by chronic inflammation and fibrosis of the biliary epithelium. Without proper clinical management, progressive bile ducts and liver damage lead to cirrhosis and, ultimately, to liver failure. The known limited role of current drugs for treating this cholangiopathy has driven researchers to assess alternative therapeutic options.

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Recent data suggest that SRC family kinases (SFKs) could represent potential therapeutic targets for rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), the most common soft-tissue sarcoma in children. Here, we assessed the effect of a recently developed selective SFK inhibitor (a pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine derivative, called SI221) on RMS cell lines. SI221, which showed to be mainly effective against the SFK member YES, significantly reduced cell viability and induced apoptosis, without affecting non-tumor cells, such as primary human skin fibroblasts and differentiated C2C12 cells.

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Glioblastoma (GB) is the most common and aggressive primary tumor of the central nervous system. The current standard of care for GB consists of surgical resection, followed by radiotherapy combined with temozolomide chemotherapy. However, despite this intensive treatment, the prognosis remains extremely poor.

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pRb2/p130 is a key tumor suppressor, whose oncosuppressive activity has mainly been attributed to its ability to negatively regulate cell cycle by interacting with the E2F4 and E2F5 transcription factors. Indeed, pRb2/p130 has been found altered in various cancer types in which it functions as a valuable prognostic marker. Here, we analyzed pRb2/p130 expression in gastric cancer tissue samples of diffuse histotype, in comparison with their normal counterparts.

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