Publications by authors named "Francesco d'Egidio"

Article Synopsis
  • Stem cell transplantation is a potential therapy for stroke that could be applied at various times post-stroke, but challenges remain regarding the identification of effective donor stem cells and their mechanisms of action.
  • The study highlights ProtheraCytes, a type of CD34+ cells from human blood and umbilical cords, which have shown promise in a clinical trial and are found to secrete growth factors that aid in blood vessel formation.
  • Experimental results in rats demonstrate that intranasal delivery of ProtheraCytes after a stroke significantly improved recovery and reduced brain damage, with indicators suggesting the role of specific extracellular vesicles (CD63+ EVs) in promoting regeneration and reducing inflammation.
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Article Synopsis
  • The central nervous system (CNS) relies on the interaction between glial cells and neurons for essential functions like development, communication, and maintaining brain health.
  • Glial cells, such as astrocytes and microglia, play a crucial role in neuroinflammation during brain disorders and can either promote or inhibit inflammation through their responses to brain damage.
  • Extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by glial cells are key in mediating communication and responses in neuroinflammatory conditions, impacting neurodegenerative diseases by either exacerbating or alleviating toxic effects on neurons.
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Endogenous brain repair occurs following an ischemic stroke but is transient, thus unable to fully mount a neuroprotective response against the evolving secondary cell death. Finding a treatment strategy that may render robust and long-lasting therapeutic effects stands as a clinically relevant therapy for stroke. Extracellular vesicles appear to be upregulated after stroke, which may represent a candidate target for neuroprotection.

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Huntington's disease is a neurodegenerative disease caused by the expansion mutation of a cytosine-adenine-guanine triplet in the exon 1 of the HTT gene which is responsible for the production of the huntingtin (Htt) protein. In physiological conditions, Htt is involved in many cellular processes such as cell signaling, transcriptional regulation, energy metabolism regulation, DNA maintenance, axonal trafficking, and antiapoptotic activity. When the genetic alteration is present, the production of a mutant version of Htt (mHtt) occurs, which is characterized by a plethora of pathogenic activities that, finally, lead to cell death.

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Article Synopsis
  • Brain remodeling after an ischemic stroke offers insights into how the brain can repair itself, which is important for improving treatments for stroke patients.
  • The study focuses on extracellular vesicles, particularly exosomes, as potential players in brain repair processes following a stroke, specifically in the neurovascular unit (NVU).
  • Researchers found that a marker called CD63 related to exosomes increased in areas close to damaged cells, indicating that exosomes might support glial activity, new neuron growth, and blood vessel formation after a stroke, highlighting their potential for future therapies.
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Stroke is a leading cause of death in the US and around the world but with limited treatment options. Survivors often present with long-term cognitive and neurological deficits. Stem cell-based therapy has emerged as a potential treatment for stroke.

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Traumatic brain injury (TBI) results from direct penetrating and indirect non-penetrating forces that alters brain functions, affecting millions of individuals annually. Primary injury following TBI is exacerbated by secondary brain injury; foremost is the deleterious inflammatory response. One therapeutic intervention being increasingly explored for TBI is hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), which is already approved clinically for treating open wounds.

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Chronic pain is an enormous public health concern, and its treatment is still an unmet medical need. Starting from data highlighting the promising effects of some nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in combination with gabapentin in pain treatment, we sought to combine ketoprofen lysine salt (KLS) and gabapentin to obtain an effective multimodal therapeutic approach for chronic pain. Using relevant in vitro models, we first demonstrated that KLS and gabapentin have supra-additive effects in modulating key pathways in neuropathic pain and gastric mucosal damage.

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Huntington's Disease (HD) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder caused by the expansion of a CAG triplet repeat in the gene, resulting in the production of an aberrant huntingtin (Htt) protein. The mutant protein accumulation is responsible for neuronal dysfunction and cell death. This is due to the involvement of oxidative damage, excitotoxicity, inflammation, and mitochondrial impairment.

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Neuropathic pain is defined as pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system and affects 7-10% of the worldwide population. Neuropathic pain can be induced by the use of drugs, including taxanes, thus triggering chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain or as consequence of metabolic disorders such as diabetes. Neuropathic pain is most often a chronic condition, and can be associated with anxiety and depression; thus, it negatively impacts quality of life.

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Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) and hypersensitivity reactions (HSRs) are among the most frequent and impairing side effects of the antineoplastic agent paclitaxel. Here, we demonstrated that paclitaxel can bind and activate complement component 5a receptor 1 (C5aR1) and that this binding is crucial in the etiology of paclitaxel-induced CIPN and anaphylaxis. Starting from our previous data demonstrating the role of interleukin (IL)-8 in paclitaxel-induced neuronal toxicity, we searched for proteins that activate IL-8 expression and, by using the Exscalate platform for molecular docking simulations, we predicted the high affinity of C5aR1 with paclitaxel.

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