A Risk Score Derived from the Analysis of a Cluster of 27 Serum Inflammatory Cytokines to Predict Long Term Outcome in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction: a Pilot Study.

Background: The aim of our study was to evaluate the clinical utility and prognostic significance of a cluster of 27 serum cytokines for risk stratification after myocardial infarction.

Materials And Methods: We enrolled 33 consecutive patients admitted to our institution for acute myocardial infarction and prospectively followed. We evaluated traditional cardiovascular risk factors and assayed, during the acute phase, 27 serum cytokines (IL-1, IL-1ra, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL -7, IL-8, IL-9, IL-10, IL-12, IL-13, IL-15, IL-17, EOTAXIN, FGF, G-CSF, GM-CSF, IFN-γ, IP-10, MCP-1, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, PDGF, RANTES, TNF-α, VEGF) potentially associated with cardiovascular risk.

Atherosclerosis, inflammation and Chlamydia pneumoniae.

Coronary heart disease is the single most common cause of illness and death in the developed world. Coronary atherosclerosis is by far the most frequent cause of ischemic heart disease, and plaque disruption with superimposed thrombosis is the main cause of the acute coronary syndromes of unstable angina, myocardial infarction, and sudden death. Atherosclerosis is the result of a complex interaction between blood elements, disturbed flow, and vessel wall abnormality, involving several pathological processes: inflammation, with increased endothelial permeability, endothelial activation, and monocyte recruitment; growth, with smooth muscle cell proliferation, migration, and matrix synthesis; degeneration, with lipid accumulation; necrosis, possibly related to the cytotoxic effect of oxidized lipid; calcification/ossification, which may represent an active rather than a dystrophic process; and thrombosis, with platelet recruitment and fibrin formation.

Cytostatic activity of paclitaxel in coronary artery smooth muscle cells is mediated through transient mitotic arrest followed by permanent post-mitotic arrest: comparison with cancer cells.

The anti-cancer agent paclitaxel (PTX) is an effective anti-restenosis agent on drug eluting stents, primarily due to growth inhibition of coronary artery smooth muscle cells (CASMC) across a wide dose range. In this study, we compared the effects of PTX on CASMC to apoptotic-prone HL60 leukemia cells and apoptotic-reluctant A549 lung cancer cells to assess cell survival mechanisms. In comparison to HL60 and A549 cells, CASMC had a shorter mitotic arrest and a lower mitotic index.

Role of VLA-4 and VLA-5 in ex vivo maintenance of human and pig hematopoiesis in human stroma-supported long-term cultures.

Objective: The advantage of recipient hematopoiesis over that of xenogeneic donors poses a fundamental obstacle to the induction of xenograft tolerance through mixed hematopoietic chimerism. Here we explore the role of beta1 integrins in maintenance of human vs porcine hematopoiesis within a human hematopoietic environment.

Methods: Porcine and human c-kit+ bone marrow cells were purified and cultured on human bone marrow stroma for 6 weeks.

Relative effects of GAL+ and GALlow/- porcine hematopoietic cells on primate platelet aggregation and endothelial cell activation: implications for the induction of mixed hematopoietic chimerism in the pig-to-primate model.

Background: The induction of porcine hematopoietic cell chimerism in preconditioned baboons has been hampered by the development of thrombotic microangiopathy. As pigs that lack expression of Gal alpha 1,3 Gal (Gal) may become available in the near future, we have explored the effects of porcine hematopoietic cells that express low or no Gal (Gal(low/-)) on baboon platelet aggregation and on human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) activation.

Methods: Porcine mobilized peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPC; Gal(+)) and bone marrow mononuclear cells (BM; Gal(+) or Gal(low/-)) were investigated for their potential to (i) induce aggregation of baboon platelets, and (ii) to activate endothelial cells as measured by increased expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), and E-selectin on HUVEC.

Stem cell activity of porcine c-kit+ hematopoietic cells.

Objective: A marker for hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) of pigs, which are considered to be the most suitable donors for clinical xenotransplantation, has not yet been identified. In this study, we examined the HSC activity of porcine c-kit+ bone marrow cells (BMCs).

Methods: The HSC activity of porcine c-kit+ BMCs was evaluated both in vitro using colony-forming unit (CFU) and cobblestone area-forming cell (CAFC) assays and in vivo in nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency transgenic (NOD/SCID-Tg) mice carrying porcine cytokine transgenes.

Use of CD9 expression to enrich for porcine hematopoietic progenitors.

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop novel markers for enrichment of hematopoietic progenitors from bone marrow of swine.

Materials And Methods: We previously showed that pig bone marrow contains a "side population" (SP) of Hoechst dye-effluxing cells that resembles the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC)-containing murine SP and therefore represents a putative pig stem cell population. We screened a panel of monoclonal antibodies for those that allowed positive or negative enrichment of porcine SP cells and tested one of these for enrichment of hematopoietic progenitors in short-term and long-term in vitro assays.

Porcine hematopoiesis on primate stroma in long-term cultures: enhanced growth with neutralizing tumor necrosis factor-alpha and tumor growth factor-beta antibodies.

Background: Donor hematopoiesis is at a competitive disadvantage when bone marrow transplantation is across species barriers. This could present major limitations to xenogeneic stem cell transplantation as an approach to tolerance induction. An in vitro model of xenogeneic engraftment was established to identify inhibitors of porcine hematopoiesis in a primate environment.