Purpose: To explore the perspectives of people with Parkinson's disease (PD) and exercise providers regarding facilitating factors, barriers, needs, and demands relating to physical exercise for people with PD.
Materials And Methods: Focus group discussions or telephone interviews of 30 people with PD (with or without an active sports history) and 13 providers were conducted and analyzed using structuring content analysis.
Results: Factors facilitating participation in physical exercise included motivation-enhancing elements (enjoyment, group training environment) and providers with sufficient qualifications in PD-specific training demands.
Objective: S100A4 is a DAMP protein. S100A4 is overexpressed in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), and levels correlate with organ involvement and disease activity. S100A4 mice are protected from fibrosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: We have studied the damage-associated molecular pattern protein S100A4 as a driver of fibroblast activation in systemic sclerosis (SSc).
Methods: S100A4 protein concentration was measured by ELISA in serum of SSc (n=94) and healthy controls (n=15). Protein expression in skin fibroblast cultures from diffuse cutaneous SSc (SScF, n=6) and healthy controls (normal fibroblasts (NF), n=6) was assessed.
Objectives: Our previous studies have demonstrated that the Damage Associated Molecular Pattern (DAMP) protein, S100A4, is overexpressed in the involved skin and peripheral blood of patients with SSc. It is associated with skin and lung involvement, and disease activity. By contrast, lack of S100A4 prevented the development of experimental dermal fibrosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: During atherosclerosis, smooth muscle cells (SMCs) accumulate in the intima where they switch from a contractile to a synthetic phenotype. From porcine coronary artery, we isolated spindle-shaped (S) SMCs exhibiting features of the contractile phenotype and rhomboid (R) SMCs typical of the synthetic phenotype. S100A4 was identified as a marker of R-SMCs in vitro and intimal SMCs, in pig and man.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFS100A4 oncoprotein plays a critical role during prostate cancer progression and induces immunosuppression in host tissues. We hypothesized that S100A4-regulated oncogenic activity in immunosuppressed prostate tumors promotes growth of neoplastic cells, which are likely to become aggressive. In the current study, we investigated whether biopsy- gene alteration independently predicts the outcome of disease in patients and circulatory-S100A4 is druggable target for treating immunosuppressive prostate cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGFB) is a pleiotropic trophic factor, which in contrast to the closely related VEGFA is known to have a limited effect on angiogenesis. VEGFB improves survival in various tissues including the nervous system, where the effect was observed mainly for peripheral neurons. The neurotrophic effect of VEGFB on central nervous system neurons has been less investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe metastasis-promoting S100A4 protein, a member of the S100 family, has recently been discovered as a potent factor implicated in various inflammation-associated diseases. S100A4 is involved in a range of biological functions such as angiogenesis, cell differentiation, apoptosis, motility, and invasion. Moreover, S100A4 is also a potent trigger of inflammatory processes and induces the release of cytokines and growth factors under different pathological conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderstanding the mechanisms of neurodegeneration is crucial for development of therapies to treat neurological disorders. S100 proteins are extensively expressed in the injured brain but S100's role and signalling in neural cells remain elusive. We recently demonstrated that the S100A4 protein protects neurons in brain injury and designed S100A4-derived peptides mimicking its beneficial effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The tumor microenvironment plays a determinative role in stimulating tumor progression and metastasis. Notably, tumor-stroma signals affect the pattern of infiltrated immune cells and the profile of tumor-released cytokines. Among the known molecules that are engaged in stimulating the metastatic spread of tumor cells is the S100A4 protein.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe identification of diagnostic markers and therapeutic candidate genes in common diseases is complicated by the involvement of thousands of genes. We hypothesized that genes co-regulated with a key gene in allergy, IL13, would form a module that could help to identify candidate genes. We identified a T helper 2 (TH2) cell module by small interfering RNA-mediated knockdown of 25 putative IL13-regulating transcription factors followed by expression profiling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnalysis of circulating tumor cells (CTC) holds promise of providing liquid biopsies from patients with cancer. However, current methods include enrichment procedures. We present a method (CytoTrack), where CTC from 7.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe recently found that S100A4, a member of the multifunctional S100 protein family, protects neurons in the injured brain and identified two sequence motifs in S100A4 mediating its neurotrophic effect. Synthetic peptides encompassing these motifs stimulated neuritogenesis and survival in vitro and mimicked the S100A4-induced neuroprotection in brain trauma. Here, we investigated a possible function of S100A4 and its mimetics in the pathologies of the peripheral nervous system (PNS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe small Ca-binding protein, S100A4, has a well-established metastasis-promoting activity. Moreover, its expression is tightly correlated with poor prognosis in patients with numerous types of cancer. Mechanistically, the extracellular S100A4 drives metastasis by affecting the tumor microenvironment, making it an attractive target for anti-cancer therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCadherin-catenin interactions play an important role in cadherin-mediated adhesion. Here we present strong evidence that in the cadherin-catenin complex α-catenin contributes to the binding strength of another catenin, p120, to the same complex. Specifically, we found that a β-catenin-uncoupled cadherin mutant interacts much more weakly with p120 than its full-size counterpart and that it is rapidly endocytosed from the surface of A-431 cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe tumor microenvironment is now recognized as a major factor in determining the survival and growth of disseminated tumor cells at potential metastatic sites. Tumor cells send signals to stroma cells and stimulate them to produce factors that in turn create favorable conditions for tumor cell metastasis. Activated fibroblasts constitute an important component of the tumor-associated stroma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The tumor microenvironment has been described as a critical milieu determining tumor growth and metastases. A pivotal role of metastasis-inducing S100A4 in the development of tumor stroma has been proven in animal models and verified in human breast cancer biopsies. Expression and release of S100A4 has been shown in various types of stroma composing cells, including fibroblasts and immune cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInteractions between tumor and stroma cells are essential for the progression of cancer from its initial growth at a primary site to its metastasis to distant organs. The metastasis-stimulating protein S100A4 exerts its function as a stroma cell-derived factor. Genetic depletion of S100A4 significantly reduced the metastatic burden in lungs of PyMT-induced mammary tumors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To evaluate the association between metastasis-inducing protein S100A4 and disease activity in patients with RA, and to demonstrate the effect of TNF-alpha blocking therapy on plasma levels of S100A4 in these patients.
Methods: Plasma levels of the S100A4 protein were analysed in 40 anti-TNF-alpha naive patients with active RA. Of the 40 patients, 25 were treated with adalimumab and monitored over time.
The function of S100A4, a member of the calcium-binding S100 protein family, has been associated with tumor invasion and metastasis. Although an essential pro-metastatic role of extracellular S100A4 in tumor progression has been demonstrated, the identification of the precise underlying mechanisms and protein partners (receptors) has remained elusive. To identify putative targets for extracellular S100A4, we screened a phage display peptide library using S100A4 as bait.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe S100A4 protein, which is involved in the metastasis process, is a member of the S100 superfamily of Ca-binding proteins. Members of this family are multifunctional signaling proteins with dual extra and intracellular functions involved in the regulation of diverse cellular processes. Several studies have established a correlation between S100A4 protein expression and worse prognosis for patients with various malignancies including breast cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To examine the involvement of the metastasis-inducing protein S100A4 (Mts-1) in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Methods: Synovial tissue, synovial fluid, and plasma were obtained from RA and osteoarthritis (OA) patients who were undergoing joint surgery. Immunohistochemical and immunofluorescence analyses and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were used to determine the locations and concentrations of S100A4.
The S100A4 protein belongs to the S100 family of vertebrate-specific proteins possessing both intra- and extracellular functions. In the nervous system, high levels of S100A4 expression are observed at sites of neurogenesis and lesions, suggesting a role of the protein in neuronal plasticity. Extracellular oligomeric S100A4 is a potent promoter of neurite outgrowth and survival from cultured primary neurons; however, the molecular mechanism of this effect has not been established.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe S100A4(mts1) protein stimulates metastatic spread of tumor cells. An elevated expression of S100A4 is associated with poor prognosis in many human cancers. Dynamics of tumor development were studied in S100A4-deficient mice using grafts of CSML100, highly metastatic mouse mammary carcinoma cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFS100A4(mts1) protein expression has been strongly associated with metastatic tumor progression. It has been suggested as a prognostic marker for a number of human cancers. It is proposed that extracellular S100A4 accelerates cancer progression by stimulating the motility of endothelial cells, thereby promoting angiogenesis.
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