Liposomes decorated with Apo2L/TRAIL overcome chemoresistance of human hematologic tumor cells.

Human Apo2-ligand/TRAIL is a member of the TNF cytokine superfamily capable of inducing apoptosis on tumor cells while sparing normal cells. Besides its antitumor activity, Apo2L/TRAIL is also implicated in immune regulation. Apo2L/TRAIL is stored inside activated T cells in cytoplasmic multivesicular bodies and is physiologically released to the extracellular medium inserted in the internal membrane vesicles, known as exosomes.

Differences in surface marker expression and chondrogenic potential among various tissue-derived mesenchymal cells from elderly patients with osteoarthritis.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are self-renewing, multipotent cells that could potentially be used to repair injured cartilage in diseases such as osteoarthritis (OA). In this study we used bone marrow, adipose tissue from articular and subcutaneous locations, and synovial fluid samples from 18 patients with knee OA to find a suitable alternative source for the isolation of MSCs with high chondrogenic potential. MSCs from all tissues analysed had a fibroblastic morphology, but their rates of proliferation varied.

Increased serum interleukin-17 levels in patients with myasthenia gravis.

It has been suggested that interleukin-17 (IL-17) plays a crucial role in the development of several autoimmune diseases. However, there are no data about the relationship between myasthenia gravis and IL-17. The aim of this study was to measure the concentration of IL-17 and determine whether levels depend on the severity of MG.

Liposome-bound APO2L/TRAIL is an effective treatment in a rabbit model of rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: We previously observed that T lymphocytes present in synovial fluid (SF) from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were sensitive to APO2L/TRAIL. In addition, there was a drastic decrease in the amount of bioactive APO2L/TRAIL associated with exosomes in SF from RA patients. This study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of bioactive APO2L/TRAIL conjugated with artificial lipid vesicles resembling natural exosomes as a treatment in a rabbit model of antigen-induced arthritis (AIA).

Chondrogenic differentiation in femoral bone marrow-derived mesenchymal cells (MSC) from elderly patients suffering osteoarthritis or femoral fracture.

This study analyzed the phenotype and the chondrogenic differentiation of bone marrow-derived MSCs from old patients undergoing knee osteoarthritis or femoral fracture surgery. Twenty patients (12 females), with a mean age of 77.35±8.