Matrix Signaling Subsequent to a Myocardial Infarction: A Proteomic Profile of Tissue Factor Microparticles.

This study investigated the release and proteomic profile of tissue factor microparticles (TFMPs) prospectively (up to 6 months) following a myocardial infarction (MI) in a chronic porcine model to establish their utility in tracking cellular level activities that predict physiologic outcomes. Our animal groups (n = 6 to 8 each) consisted of control, noninfarcted (negative control); infarcted only (positive control); and infarcted animals treated with cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) and a β-blocker (BB) (metoprolol succinate). The authors found different protein profiles in TFMPs between the control, infarcted only group, and the CRT + BB treated group with predictive impact on the outward phenotype of pathological remodeling after an MI within and between groups.

Detection of HIV-1 and Human Proteins in Urinary Extracellular Vesicles from HIV+ Patients.

Background: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane bound, secreted by cells, and detected in bodily fluids, including urine, and contain proteins, RNA, and DNA. Our goal was to identify HIV and human proteins (HPs) in urinary EVs from HIV+ patients and compare them to HIV- samples.

Methods: Urine samples were collected from HIV+ ( = 35) and HIV- ( = 12) individuals.

Quercetin reduces hydroxyurea induced cytotoxicity in immortalized mouse aortic endothelial cells.

Background: Chronic inflammation is a characteristic of sickle cell disease (SCD), and is invariably associated with vascular endothelial injury. Hydroxyurea (HU), a naturally cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agent, is the only FDA drug approved for SCD, and is therefore naturally cytotoxic. Quercetin (QCT) is a dietary flavonoid found ubiquitously in plants and foods that have anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory characteristics.

Regulation of inflammatory responses by neuregulin-1 in brain ischemia and microglial cells in vitro involves the NF-kappa B pathway.

Background: We previously demonstrated that neuregulin-1 (NRG-1) was neuroprotective in rats following ischemic stroke. Neuroprotection by NRG-1 was associated with the suppression of pro-inflammatory gene expression in brain tissues. Over-activation of brain microglia can induce pro-inflammatory gene expression by activation of transcriptional regulators following stroke.

Leptin-induced transphosphorylation of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor increases Notch and stimulates endothelial cell angiogenic transformation.

Leptin increases vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), VEGF receptor-2 (VEGFR-2), and Notch expression in cancer cells, and transphosphorylates VEGFR-2 in endothelial cells. However, the mechanisms involved in leptin's actions in endothelial cells are not completely known. Here we investigated whether a leptin-VEGFR-Notch axis is involved in these leptin's actions.

Body composition and grip strength are improved in transgenic sickle mice fed a high-protein diet.

Key pathophysiology of sickle cell anaemia includes compensatory erythropoiesis, vascular injury and chronic inflammation, which divert amino acids from tissue deposition for growth/weight gain and muscle formation. We hypothesised that sickle mice maintained on an isoenergetic diet with a high percentage of energy derived from protein (35 %), as opposed to a standard diet with 20 % of energy derived from protein, would improve body composition, bone mass and grip strength. Male Berkeley transgenic sickle mice (S; n 8-12) were fed either 20 % (S20) or 35 % (S35) diets for 3 months.

NILCO biomarkers in breast cancer from Chinese patients.

Background: Notch, IL-1 and leptin are known pro-angiogenic factors linked to breast cancer development, tumor aggressiveness and poor prognosis. A complex crosstalk between these molecules (NILCO) has been reported in breast cancer cell lines. However, whether NILCO biomarkers are differentially expressed in estrogen responsive (ER+), unresponsive (ER-) and triple negative (TNBC) breast cancer tissues is unknown.

Leptin's Pro-Angiogenic Signature in Breast Cancer.

Obesity is linked to increased incidence of breast cancer. The precise causes and mechanisms of these morbid relationships are unknown. Contradictory data on leptin angiogenic actions have been published.

Leptin-cytokine crosstalk in breast cancer.

Despite accumulating evidence suggesting a positive correlation between leptin levels, obesity, post-menopause and breast cancer incidence, our current knowledge on the mechanisms involved in these relationships is still incomplete. Since the cloning of leptin in 1994 and its receptor (OB-R) 1 year later by Friedman's laboratory (Zhang et al., 1994) and Tartaglia et al.

Genetic characterization of HIV type 1 Nef-induced vesicle secretion.

The HIV-1 Nef protein is known to be secreted, and our group has shown that Nef is secreted from nef-transfected and HIV-1-infected cells in small exosome-like vesicles (d. 40-100 nm). The role of secreted Nef remains to be fully characterized.

C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 are decreased in transgenic sickle cell mice fed a high protein diet.

Sickle cell disease is associated with hypermetabolism and a consequent shortage of substrates for normal growth and healthy immune response. The protein:energy ratio is a major determinant of dietary adequacy; the requirement for optimal growth of control mice is 20% of energy from dietary protein. This study investigated the efficacy of increased dietary protein for improving weight gain and reducing inflammation in the Berkeley sickle cell mouse model (S).

Apical spore phagocytosis is not a significant route of infection of differentiated enterocytes by Encephalitozoon intestinalis.

Encephalitozoon intestinalis is a microsporidian species that infects the intestinal mucosal epithelium, primarily in immunodeficient individuals. The present study employed undifferentiated and differentiated human colonic carcinoma cell lines to determine if this parasite species infected polarized epithelial cells by spore phagocytosis or by impalement with the deployed spore polar tube. Apical surface spore attachment differed between cell lines such that SW480>HT-29>Caco-2>HCT-8, with attachment being greater to undifferentiated Caco-2 cells than differentiated cells and greater to partially differentiated HCT-8 cells than differentiated HCT-8 cells.

Latent infection as a source of disseminated disease caused by organisms of the Mycobacterium avium complex in simian immunodeficiency virus-infected rhesus macaques.

Whether infection with Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) among patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome results from recent exposure to virulent strains or reactivation of latent infection acquired years earlier is unknown. To address this question, tissue samples from 47 simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)-infected and 63 SIV-uninfected rhesus macaques were cultured. MAC was cultured from 14 SIV-uninfected macaques (22.

HIV production from purified monocytes isolated from antiretroviral-naïve and protease inhibitor-treated HIV-1-infected patients.

Purpose: We obtained peripheral blood monocytes from HIV-1-infected patients and differentiated them into macrophages in vitro to investigate the contribution of purified monocytes to plasma viremia in HIV-infected patients.

Method: We compared the production of HIV-1 from purified monocytes isolated from patients who were receiving antiviral therapy to those who were not. We obtained monocytes from 29 antiretroviral-naïve (ARVN) patients and 35 protease inhibitor (PI)-treated HIV-infected patients (20 with undetectable plasma HIV).

Water-based nanoparticulate polymeric system for protein delivery: permeability control and vaccine application.

The idea of using polymeric nanoparticles as drug carriers is receiving an increasing amount of attention both in academia and industry, Nanoparticles have a number of potential applications in protein, drug and vaccine delivery, as well as gene therapy applications. In this article, we focus on this unique drug delivery technology as a method to control the release rate of substances, not only for protein delivery but also for delivering an experimental vaccine immunogen. Nanoparticles were assembled on the basis of ionic interaction between water-soluble polymers so that the resulting particles were stable in physiologic media.