Publications by authors named "Gema Martin-Manso"

CD47 is a widely expressed receptor that regulates immunity by engaging its counter-receptor SIRPα on phagocytes and its secreted ligand thrombospondin-1. Mice lacking CD47 can exhibit enhanced or impaired host responses to bacterial pathogens, but its role in fungal immunity has not been examined. cd47-/- mice on a C57BL/6 background showed significantly increased morbidity and mortality following Candida albicans infection when compared with wild-type mice.

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Bone marrow-derived human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs) constitute a promising therapeutic approach. However, the extremely low frequency of hMSCs in bone marrow makes the translation of these regulatory cells to clinical therapies difficult for large patient populations. Here, we describe a good manufacturing practices-compliant procedure for the expansion of hMSCs using the Quantum Cell Expansion System.

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Disseminated Candida albicans infection results in high morbidity and mortality despite treatment with existing antifungal drugs. Recent studies suggest that modulating the host immune response can improve survival, but specific host targets for accomplishing this goal remain to be identified. The extracellular matrix protein thrombospondin-1 is released at sites of tissue injury and modulates several immune functions, but its role in C.

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Multivalent effects dictate the binding affinity of multiple ligands on one molecular entity to receptors. Integrins are receptors that mediate cell attachment through multivalent binding to peptide sequences within the extracellular matrix, and overexpression promotes the metastasis of some cancers. Multivalent display of integrin antagonists enhances their efficacy, but current scaffolds have limited ranges and precision for the display of ligands.

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Secreted frizzled-related protein (sFRP)-1 is a Wnt antagonist that inhibits breast carcinoma cell motility, whereas the secreted glycoprotein thrombospondin-1 stimulates adhesion and motility of the same cells. We examined whether thrombospondin-1 and sFRP-1 interact directly or indirectly to modulate cell behavior. Thrombospondin-1 bound sFRP-1 with an apparent K(d)=48nM and the related sFRP-2 with a K(d)=95nM.

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Thrombospondin-1 (TSP1) can inhibit angiogenic responses directly by interacting with VEGF and indirectly by engaging several endothelial cell TSP1 receptors. We now describe a more potent mechanism by which TSP1 inhibits VEGF receptor-2 (VEGFR2) activation through engaging its receptor CD47. CD47 ligation is known to inhibit downstream signaling targets of VEGFR2, including endothelial nitric-oxide synthase and soluble guanylate cyclase, but direct effects on VEGFR2 have not been examined.

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In addition to long-term regulation of angiogenesis, angiogenic growth factor signalling through nitric oxide (NO) acutely controls blood flow and haemostasis. Inhibition of this pathway may account for the hypertensive and pro-thrombotic side effects of the vascular endothelial growth factor antagonists that are currently used for cancer treatment. The first identified endogenous angiogenesis inhibitor, thrombospondin 1, also controls tissue perfusion, haemostasis and radiosensitivity by antagonizing NO signalling.

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Inhibition of tumor growth by thrombospondin (TSP) 1 is generally attributed to its antiangiogenic activity, but effects on tumor immunity should also be considered. We show that overexpression of TSP1 in melanoma cells increases macrophage recruitment into xenograft tumors grown in nude or beige/nude mice. In vitro, TSP1 acutely induces expression of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) by monocytic cells, suggesting that TSP1-induced macrophage recruitment is at least partially mediated by PAI-1.

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Human plasma fibronectin binds with high affinity to the inflammation-induced secreted protein TSG-6. Fibronectin binds to the CUB_C domain of TSG-6 but not to its Link module. TSG-6 can thus act as a bridging molecule to facilitate fibronectin association with the TSG-6 Link module ligand thrombospondin-1.

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