Delivery of Avocado Seed Extract Using Novel Charge-Switchable Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles with Galactose Surface Modified to Target Sorafenib-Resistant Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Background: Sorafenib-resistant (SR) hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a current serious problem in liver cancer treatment. Numerous phytochemicals derived from plants exhibit anticancer activity but have never been tested against drug-resistant cells.

Methods: Avocado seed extract (APE) isolated by maceration was analysed for its phytochemical composition and anticancer activity.

Immortalized hepatocyte-like cells: A competent hepatocyte model for studying clinical HCV isolate infection.

More than 58 million individuals worldwide are inflicted with chronic HCV. The disease carries a high risk of end stage liver disease, i.e.

A novel anti-membrane CD30 single-chain variable fragment discovered from the human phage library: A potential targeted immunotherapy.

Hodgkin's lymphoma and anaplastic large cell lymphoma, especially relapsed or refractory diseases, could recently be cured by CD30-targeted immunotherapy. However, the CD30 antigen releases the soluble ectodomain of CD30, which might obscure the targeted therapy. Therefore, the membrane epitope of CD30 (mCD30), left on the cancer cells, might be a prospective target for lymphoma treatment.

Pharmacological Activities of Fingerroot Extract and Its Phytoconstituents Against SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Golden Syrian Hamsters.

Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to the suffering of people around the world, with an inaccessibility of specific and effective medication. Fingerroot extract, which showed in vitro anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity, could alleviate the deficiency of antivirals and reduce the burden of health systems.

Aim Of Study: In this study, we conducted an experiment in SARS-CoV-2-infected hamsters to determine the efficacy of fingerroot extract in vivo.

Transplantation of autologous cultivated oral mucosal epithelial sheets for limbal stem cell deficiency at Siriraj Hospital: a case series.

Background: The loss of limbal stem cells owing to either corneal burn or inflammation leads to the repopulation of opaque skin over the raw surface of the cornea. It has been proposed that reconstitution of oral mucosal stem cells over this raw surface will mimic the limbal stem cells and restore vision. The efficacy and safety of applying a sheet of cultivated oral mucosal cells as an autologous graft for corneal replacement were evaluated.

A Competent Hepatocyte Model Examining Hepatitis B Virus Entry through Sodium Taurocholate Cotransporting Polypeptide as a Therapeutic Target.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has been considered a crucial risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma. Current treatment can only lessen the viral load but not result in complete remission. An efficient hepatocyte model for HBV infection would offer a true-to-life viral life cycle that would be crucial for the screening of therapeutic agents.

Curcumin inhibited hepatitis B viral entry through NTCP binding.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been implicated in hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Current agents (nucleos(t)ide analogs and interferons) could only attenuate HBV infection. A combination of agents targeting different stages of viral life cycle (e.

Potent programmable antiviral against dengue virus in primary human cells by Cas13b RNP with short spacer and delivery by VLP.

With sequencing as a standard frontline protocol to identify emerging viruses such Zika virus and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), direct utilization of sequence data to program antivirals against the viruses could accelerate drug development to treat their infections. CRISPR-Cas effectors are promising candidates that could be programmed to inactivate viral genetic material based on sequence data, but several challenges such as delivery and design of effective CRISPR RNA (crRNA) need to be addressed to realize practical use. Here, we showed that virus-like particle (VLP) could deliver PspCas13b-crRNA ribonucleoprotein (RNP) in nanomolar range to efficiently suppress dengue virus infection in primary human target cells.

Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Activity of Extract and Its Major Component Andrographolide in Human Lung Epithelial Cells and Cytotoxicity Evaluation in Major Organ Cell Representatives.

The coronaviruses disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has become a major health problem, affecting more than 50 million people with over one million deaths globally. Effective antivirals are still lacking. Here, we optimized a high-content imaging platform and the plaque assay for viral output study using the legitimate model of human lung epithelial cells, Calu-3, to determine the anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of extract and its major component, andrographolide.

High-content screening of Thai medicinal plants reveals Boesenbergia rotunda extract and its component Panduratin A as anti-SARS-CoV-2 agents.

Since December 2019, the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused severe pneumonia, a disease named COVID-19, that became pandemic and created an acute threat to public health. The effective therapeutics are in urgent need. Here, we developed a high-content screening for the antiviral candidates using fluorescence-based SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein detection in Vero E6 cells coupled with plaque reduction assay.

An Immortalized Hepatocyte-like Cell Line (imHC) Accommodated Complete Viral Lifecycle, Viral Persistence Form, cccDNA and Eventual Spreading of a Clinically-Isolated HBV.

More than 350 million people worldwide have been persistently infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Chronic HBV infection could advance toward liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The intervention with prophylactic vaccine and conventional treatment could suppress HBV, but could not completely eradicate it.

Coagulant activity of recombinant human factor VII produced by lentiviral human F7 gene transfer in immortalized hepatocyte-like cell line.

Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) have the potential to differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells, indicating that these cells may be the new target cell of interest to produce biopharmaceuticals. Our group recently established a hMSC-derived immortalized hepatocyte-like cell line (imHC) that demonstrates several liver-specific phenotypes. However, the ability of imHC to produce coagulation factors has not been characterized.

Effect of Sucrier Banana Peel Extracts on Inhibition of Melanogenesis through the ERK Signaling Pathway.

Hyperpigmentation is a type of pigmentary disorder induced by overexpression of melanin content activated severe esthetic problems as melasma, freckle, ephelides, lentigo and other forms on human skin. Several whitening agents have restricted use because of their side effects or stability such as kojic acid, ascorbic acid and hydroquinone can act as cytotoxic substance which associated to dermatitis and skin cancer. To find for the safe substance, this study aimed to find for the ability of several components in Sucrier banana peel (SBP) extracts to inhibit melanogenesis process through p38 signaling pathway in B16F10 mouse melanoma cells.

Development of Hepatocyte-like Cell Derived from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem cell as a Host for Clinically Isolated Hepatitis C Virus.

This unit describes protocols to develop hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) starting from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as a natural host for hepatitis C virus (HCV). These include the preparation of MSCs from bone marrow, the reprogramming of MSCs into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and the differentiation of iPSCs into HLCs. This unit also incorporates the characterization of the resulting cells at each stage.

Enhancement of β-Globin Gene Expression in Thalassemic IVS2-654 Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Erythroid Cells by Modified U7 snRNA.

The therapeutic use of patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is emerging as a potential treatment of β-thalassemia. Ideally, patient-specific iPSCs would be genetically corrected by various approaches to treat β-thalassemia including lentiviral gene transfer, lentivirus-delivered shRNA, and gene editing. These corrected iPSCs would be subsequently differentiated into hematopoietic stem cells and transplanted back into the same patient.

Effects of the Ayurved Siriraj Wattana recipe on functional and phenotypic characterization of cytokine-induced killer cells and dendritic cells in vitro.

Background: Ayurved Siriraj Wattana recipe (AVS073), has been prescribed as tonic, to increase appetite, and for pain relief. It also exhibits antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulating and anti-cancer activities. However, the immunomodulatory effects on antigen-presenting cells and effector T cells remained elusive.

A robust model of natural hepatitis C infection using hepatocyte-like cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells as a long-term host.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) could induce chronic liver diseases and hepatocellular carcinoma in human. The use of primary human hepatocyte as a viral host is restrained with the scarcity of tissue supply. A culture model restricted to HCV genotype 2a (JFH-1) has been established using Huh7-derived hepatocyte.

Sunitinib indirectly enhanced anti-tumor cytotoxicity of cytokine-induced killer cells and CD3⁺CD56⁺ subset through the co-culturing dendritic cells.

Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells have reached clinical trials for leukemia and solid tumors. Their anti-tumor cytotoxicity had earlier been shown to be intensified after the co-culture with dendritic cells (DCs). We observed markedly enhanced anti-tumor cytotoxicity activity of CIK cells after the co-culture with sunitinib-pretreated DCs over that of untreated DCs.

Development of immortalized hepatocyte-like cells from hMSCs.

Clones of hepatocyte-like cells were reproducibly generated from human mesenchymal stem cells immortalized with a combined transduction of both Bmi-1 and TERT genes. These hepatocyte-like cells contained selective markers and several functional properties of hepatocytes, yet still carried proliferative potential. These cells had cuboidal morphology and arranged themselves as cord-like structure in culture.

Upregulation of CYP 450s expression of immortalized hepatocyte-like cells derived from mesenchymal stem cells by enzyme inducers.

Background: The strenuous procurement of cultured human hepatocytes and their short lives have constrained the cell culture model of cytochrome P450 (CYP450) induction, xenobiotic biotransformation, and hepatotoxicity. The development of continuous non-tumorous cell line steadily containing hepatocyte phenotypes would substitute the primary hepatocytes for these studies.

Results: The hepatocyte-like cells have been developed from hTERT plus Bmi-1-immortalized human mesenchymal stem cells to substitute the primary hepatocytes.

Proteomic profiles of mesenchymal stem cells induced by a liver differentiation protocol.

The replacement of disease hepatocytes and the stimulation of endogenous or exogenous regeneration by human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are promising candidates for liver-directed cell therapy. In this study, we isolated MSCs from adult bone marrow by plastic adhesion and induced differentiation with a liver differentiation protocol. Western blot analyses were used to assess the expression of liver-specific markers.