Extracellular vesicles (EVs) act in cell-to-cell communication, delivering cargo from donor to recipient cells and modulating their physiological condition. EVs secreted by leukemic blasts in patients with leukemia have been shown to influence the fate of recipient cells in the bone marrow microenvironment. Methods to quantify and to characterize them phenotypically are therefore urgently needed to study their functional role in leukemia development and to evaluate their potential as targets for therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe recruitment of monocytes from the blood to targeted peripheral tissues is critical to the inflammatory process during tissue injury, tumor development and autoimmune diseases. This is facilitated through a process of capture from free flow onto the luminal surface of activated endothelial cells, followed by their adhesion and transendothelial migration (transmigration) into the underlying affected tissue. However, the mechanisms that support the preferential and context-dependent recruitment of monocyte subpopulations are still not fully understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochim Biophys Acta Mol Cell Res
April 2018
Most cancer deaths result from metastasis, which is the dissemination of cells from a primary tumor to distant organs. Metastasis involves changes to molecules that are essential for tumor cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix and to endothelial cells. Junctional Adhesion Molecule C (JAM-C) localizes at intercellular junctions as homodimers or more affine heterodimers with JAM-B.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecruitment of circulating monocytes is critical for tumour angiogenesis. However, how human monocyte subpopulations extravasate to tumours is unclear. Here we show mechanisms of extravasation of human CD14CD16 patrolling and CD14CD16 intermediate proangiogenic monocytes (HPMo), using human tumour xenograft models and live imaging of transmigration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe limitation of targeting VEGF/VEGFR2 signalling to stop angiogenesis in cancer therapy has been blamed on re-activation of alternative receptor tyrosine kinases by compensatory angiogenic factors. Targeting MAPK and PI3K signaling pathways in endothelial cells may be an alternative or complementary approach. Herein we aimed to evaluate the antitumor and antiangiogenic potential of a novel pyrazolyl-urea kinase inhibitor, GeGe3, and to identify its kinase targets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDe novo formation of blood vessels is a pivotal mechanism during cancer development. During the past few years, antiangiogenic drugs have been developed to target tumor vasculature. However, because of limitations and adverse effects observed with current therapies, there is a strong need for alternative antiangiogenic strategies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJunctional adhesion molecule C (JAM-C) is expressed by vascular endothelium and human but not mouse B lymphocytes. The level of JAM-C expression defines B-cell differentiation stages and allows the classification of marginal zone-derived (JAM-C-positive) and germinal center-derived (JAM-C-negative) B-cell lymphomas. In the present study, we investigated the role of JAM-C in homing of human B cells, using a xenogeneic nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient mouse model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol
July 2002
Objective: Heterogeneous smooth muscle cell (SMC) populations have been described in the arteries of several species. We have investigated whether SMC heterogeneity is present in the porcine coronary artery, which is widely used as a model of restenosis.
Methods And Results: By using 2 isolation methods, distinct medial populations were identified: spindle-shaped SMCs (S-SMCs) after enzymatic digestion, with a "hill-and-valley" growth pattern, and rhomboid SMCs (R-SMCs) after explantation, which grow as a monolayer.
Retinoid bioavailability is regulated by the activity of specific cytoplasmic receptors. High levels of cellular retinol binding protein-1 (CRBP-1) have been documented during experimental arterial and wound-healing processes, but data concerning neoplastic smooth muscle tissues are scarce and/or controversial. This study reports that the expression of CRBP-1 is markedly higher in uterine and gastrointestinal leiomyosarcomas than in leiomyomas and normal myometrium; CRBP-1 was practically absent in normal gastrointestinal smooth muscle tissue.
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