Introduction: The pathogenesis of sepsis is an imbalance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory responses. At the onset of sepsis, the lungs are severely affected, and the injury progresses to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), with a mortality rate of up to 40%. Currently, there is no effective treatment for sepsis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn preclinical studies, the protective effects of female sex hormones and the immunosuppressive effects of male sex hormones were demonstrated. However, gender-related differences in multiorgan failure and mortality in clinical trials have not been consistently explained. This study aims to investigate gender-related differences in the development and progression of sepsis using a clinically relevant ovine model of sepsis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe have recently shown that endogenous hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), an important cellular gaseous mediator, exerts an antiviral and anti-inflammatory activity in vitro and in vivo, and that exogenous H₂S delivered via the synthetic H₂S-releasing compound GYY4137 also has similar properties. In this study, we sought to extend our findings to a novel class of H₂S donors, thiol-activated gem-dithiol-based (TAGDDs). In an in vitro model of human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, TAGDD-1 treatment significantly reduced viral replication, even when added up to six hours after infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHydrogen sulfide (HS) is a biologically relevant signaling molecule in mammals. Along with the volatile substances nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO), HS is defined as a gasotransmitter. It plays a physiological role in a variety of functions, including synaptic transmission, vascular tone, angiogenesis, inflammation, and cellular signaling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) hold great promise in bioengineering and regenerative medicine. MSCs can be isolated from multiple adult tissues via their strong adherence to tissue culture plastic and then further expanded in vitro, most commonly using fetal bovine serum (FBS). Since FBS can cause MSCs to become immunogenic, its presence in MSC cultures limits both clinical and experimental applications of the cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHydrogen sulfide is an important endogenous mediator that has been the focus of intense investigation in the past few years, leading to the discovery of its role in vasoactive, cytoprotective and anti-inflammatory responses. Recently, we made a critical observation that HS also has a protective role in paramyxovirus infection by modulating inflammatory responses and viral replication. In this study we tested the antiviral and anti-inflammatory activity of the HS slow-releasing donor GYY4137 on enveloped RNA viruses from Ortho-, Filo-, Flavi- and Bunyavirus families, for which there is no FDA-approved vaccine or therapeutic available, with the exception of influenza.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHydrogen sulfide (HS) is an endogenous gaseous transmitter whose role in the pathophysiology of several lung diseases has been increasingly appreciated. Our recent studies in vitro have shown, we believe for the first time, that HS has an important antiviral and antiinflammatory activity in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, the leading cause of bronchiolitis and viral pneumonia in children. Our objective was to evaluate the therapeutic potential of GYY4137, a novel slow-releasing HS donor, for the prevention and treatment of RSV-induced lung disease, as well as to investigate the role of endogenous HS in a mouse model of RSV infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells (MSC) have shown beneficial effects in many models of disease in part by modulating excessive inflammatory and immune responses. Frequently the beneficial effects of MSC persist long after their disappearance from host tissues, suggesting that MSC interact with intermediate cells in the host that relay or amplify their effects. The cells have usually been injected intravenously, but beneficial effects have also been reported with intraperitoneal (IP) injection of MSC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells (hMSCs) from bone marrow and other tissues are currently being administered to large numbers of patients even though there are no biomarkers that accurately predict their efficacy in vivo. Using a mouse model of chemical injury of the cornea, we found that bone-marrow-derived hMSCs isolated from different donors varied widely in their efficacy in modulating sterile inflammation. Importantly, RT-PCR assays of hMSCs for the inflammation-modulating protein TSG-6 expressed by the TNFα-stimulated gene 6 (TSG-6 or TNFAIP6) predicted their efficacy in sterile inflammation models for corneal injury, sterile peritonitis, and bleomycin-induced lung injury.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol
January 2014
Previous reports demonstrated that bleomycin-induced injury of lungs in mice can be improved by the administration of murine multipotent adult stem/progenitor cells (MSCs) from the bone marrow. Recently some of the beneficial effects of MSCs have been explained by the cells being activated by signals from injured tissues to express the inflammation modulating protein TNF-α-stimulated gene/protein 6 (TSG-6). In this study, we elected to test the hypothesis that targeting the early phase of bleomycin-induced lung injury with systemic TSG-6 administration may produce therapeutic effects such as preventing the deterioration of lung function and increasing survival by modulation of the inflammatory cascade.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman mesenchymal stem/precursor cells (MSC) are similar to some other stem/progenitor cells in that they compact into spheres when cultured in hanging drops or on nonadherent surfaces. Assembly of MSC into spheres alters many of their properties, including enhanced secretion of factors that mediate inflammatory and immune responses. Here we demonstrated that MSC spontaneously aggregated into sphere-like structures after injection into a subcutaneous air pouch or the peritoneum of mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Cell Biochem
November 2011
Systemic administration of MSCs resulted in remarkable functional improvements in injured tissues without either long-term engraftment or differentiation in many clinical and experimental situations. Emerging evidence suggest that most of the beneficial effects of MSCs could be explained by secretion of soluble factors that have multiple effects including modulation of inflammatory and immune reactions, protection from cell death, and stimulation of endogenous progenitor cells. In this review, we focus on the therapeutic factors that account for the beneficial effects of MSCs in animal models of human diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells (hMSCs) repair tissues and modulate immune systems but the mechanisms are not fully understood. We demonstrated that hMSCs are activated by inflammatory signals to secrete the anti-inflammatory protein, TNF-α-stimulated gene 6 protein (TSG-6) and thereby create a negative feedback loop that reduces inflammation in zymosan-induced peritonitis. The results demonstrate for the first time that TSG-6 interacts through the CD44 receptor on resident macrophages to decrease zymosan/TLR2-mediated nuclear translocation of the NF-κB.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this review, we focus on the adult stem/progenitor cells that were initially isolated from bone marrow and first referred to as colony forming units-fibroblastic, then as marrow stromal cells and subsequently as either mesenchymal stem cells or multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). The current interest in MSCs and similar cells from other tissues is reflected in over 10,000 citations in PubMed at the time of this writing with 5 to 10 new publications per day. It is also reflected in over 100 registered clinical trials with MSCs or related cells (http//www.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrevious reports suggested that culture as 3D aggregates or as spheroids can increase the therapeutic potential of the adult stem/progenitor cells referred to as mesenchymal stem cells or multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). Here we used a hanging drop protocol to prepare human MSCs (hMSCs) as spheroids that maximally expressed TNFalpha stimulated gene/protein 6 (TSG-6), the antiinflammatory protein that was expressed at high levels by hMSCs trapped in the lung after i.v.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Human multipotent stromal cells readily form single-cell-derived colonies when plated at clonal densities. However, the colonies are heterogeneous because cells from a colony form new colonies that vary in size and differentiation potential when replated at clonal densities. The experiments here tested the hypothesis that cells in the inner regions of colonies are partially differentiated, but the differentiation is reversible.
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