Phenomics Demonstrates Cytokines Additive Induction of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition.

Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is highly plastic with a programme where cells lose adhesion and become more motile. EMT heterogeneity is one of the factors for disease progression and chemoresistance in cancer. Omics characterisations are costly and challenging to use.

Improved functionality of hepatic spheroids cultured in acoustic levitation compared to existing 2D and 3D models.

Hepatic spheroids are of high interest in basic research, drug discovery and cell therapy. Existing methods for spheroid culture present advantages and drawbacks. An alternative technology is explored: the hepatic spheroid formation and culture in an acoustofluidic chip, using HepaRG cell line.

A Clinical-Grade Partially Decellularized Matrix for Tracheal Replacement: Validation In Vitro and In Vivo in a Porcine Model.

The management of extensive tracheal resection followed by circumferential replacement remains a surgical challenge. Numerous techniques are proposed with mixed results. Partial decellularization of the trachea with the removal of the mucosal and submucosal cells is a promising method, reducing immunogenicity while preserving the biomechanical properties of the final matrix.

Ascites microenvironment conditions the peritoneal pre-metastatic niche to promote the implantation of ovarian tumor spheroids: Involvement of fibrinogen/fibrin and αV and α5β1 integrins.

At least one-third of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (OC) present ascites at diagnosis and almost all have ascites at recurrence especially because of the propensity of the OC cells to spread in the abdominal cavity leading to peritoneal metastasis. The influence of ascites on the development of pre-metastatic niches, and on the biological mechanisms leading to cancer cell colonization of the mesothelium, remains poorly understood. Here, we show that ascites weakens the mesothelium by affecting the morphology of mesothelial cells and by destabilizing their distribution in the cell cycle.

Detection of invisible biological traces in relation to the physicochemical properties of substrates surfaces in forensic casework.

Touch DNA, which can be found at crime scenes, consists of invisible biological traces deposited through a person's skin's contact with an object or another person. Many factors influence touch DNA transfer, including the "destination" substrate's surface. The latter's physicochemical characteristics (wettability, roughness, surface energy, etc.

Development and qualification of clinical grade decellularized and cryopreserved human esophagi.

Tissue engineering is a promising alternative to current full thickness circumferential esophageal replacement methods. The aim of our study was to develop a clinical grade Decellularized Human Esophagus (DHE) for future clinical applications. After decontamination, human esophagi from deceased donors were placed in a bioreactor and decellularized with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and ethylendiaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) for 3 days.

Targeting cell-derived markers to improve the detection of invisible biological traces for the purpose of genetic-based criminal identification.

At a crime scene, investigators are faced with a multitude of traces. Among them, biological traces are of primary interest for the rapid genetic-based identification of individuals. "Touch DNA" consists of invisible biological traces left by the simple contact of a person's skin with objects.

In Vitro Models of Ovarian Cancer: Bridging the Gap between Pathophysiology and Mechanistic Models.

Ovarian cancer (OC) is a disease of major concern with a survival rate of about 40% at five years. This is attributed to the lack of visible and reliable symptoms during the onset of the disease, which leads over 80% of patients to be diagnosed at advanced stages. This implies that metastatic activity has advanced to the peritoneal cavity.

A biomimetic model of 3D fluid extracellular macromolecular crowding microenvironment fine-tunes ovarian cancer cells dissemination phenotype.

An early fundamental step in ovarian cancer progression is the dissemination of cancer cells through liquid environments, one of them being cancer ascites accumulated in the peritoneal cavity. These biological fluids are highly crowded with a high total macromolecule concentration. This biophysical property of fluids is widely used in tissue engineering for a few decades now, yet is largely underrated in cancer biomimetic models.

Synthesis and antitumor activities investigation of a C-nucleoside analogue of ribavirin.

SRO-91 is a non-natural ribofuranosyl-1,2,3-triazole C-nucleoside obtained by a synthetic sequence involving a C-alkynyl glycosylation mediated by metallic indium and a Huisgen cycloaddition for the construction of the triazole. Its structure is close to the one of ribavirin, a drug presenting a broad-spectrum against viral infections. SRO-91 antitumor activities were investigated on 9 strains of tumor cells and IC of the order of 1 μM were obtained on A431 epidermoid carcinoma cells and B16F10 skin melanoma cells.

Evaluation of the potential of a new ribavirin analog impairing the dissemination of ovarian cancer cells.

Epithelial ovarian cancers are insidious pathologies that give a poor prognosis due to their late discovery and the increasing emergence of chemoresistance. Development of small pharmacological anticancer molecules remains a major challenge. Ribavirin, usually used in the treatment of hepatitis C virus infections and more recently few cancers, has been a suggestion.

A clinical-grade acellular matrix for esophageal replacement.

In pathologies of the esophagus such as esophageal atresia, cancers, and caustic injuries, methods for full thickness esophageal replacement require the sacrifice of healthy intra-abdominal organs such as the stomach and the colon and are associated with high morbidity, mortality, and poor functional results. To overcome these problems, tissue engineering methods are developed to create a substitute with scaffolds and cells. The aim of this study was to develop a simple and safe decellularization process in order to obtain a clinical grade esophageal extracellular matrix.

Studies of membranotropic and fusogenic activity of two putative HCV fusion peptides.

Over the past decades, membranotropic peptides such as positively charged cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) or amphipathic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have received increasing interest in order to improve therapeutic agent cellular uptake. As far as we are concerned, we were interested in studying HCV fusion peptides as putative anchors. Two peptides, HCV6 and HCV7, were identified and conjugated to a fluorescent tag NBD and tested for their interaction with liposomes as model membranes.

Fibronectin amyloid-like aggregation alters its extracellular matrix incorporation and promotes a single and sparsed cell migration.

Fibronectin (Fn) is an extracellular matrix (ECM) multifunctional glycoprotein essential for regulating cells behaviors. Within ECM, Fn is found as polymerized fibrils. Apart from fibrils, Fn could also form other kind of supramolecular assemblies such as aggregates.

Synergistic effects of BMP-2, BMP-6 or BMP-7 with human plasma fibronectin onto hydroxyapatite coatings: A comparative study.

Unlabelled: Design of new osteoinductive biomaterials to reproduce an optimized physiological environment capable of recruiting stem cells and instructing their fate towards the osteoblastic lineage has become a priority in orthopaedic surgery. This work aims at evaluating the bioactivity of BMP combined with human plasma fibronectin (FN/BMP) delivered in solution or coated onto titanium-hydroxyapatite (TiHA) surfaces. Herein, we focus on the comparison of in vitro osteogenic efficacy in mouse C2C12 pre-osteoblasts of three BMP members, namely: BMP-2, BMP-6 and BMP-7.

Shell extracts from the marine bivalve Pecten maximus regulate the synthesis of extracellular matrix in primary cultured human skin fibroblasts.

Mollusc shells are composed of more than 95% calcium carbonate and less than 5% of an organic matrix consisting mostly of proteins, glycoproteins and polysaccharides. Previous studies have elucidated the biological activities of the shell matrices from bivalve molluscs on skin, especially on the expression of the extracellular matrix components of fibroblasts. In this work, we have investigated the potential biological activities of shell matrix components extracted from the shell of the scallop Pecten maximus on human fibroblasts in primary culture.

Cell cycle arrest or survival signaling through αv integrins, activation of PKC and ERK1/2 lead to anoikis resistance of ovarian cancer spheroids.

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic cancer mainly due to spheroids organization of cancer cells that disseminate within the peritoneal cavity. We have investigated the molecular mechanisms by which ovarian cancer spheroids resist anoikis, choosing as models the 2 well-characterized human ovarian cancer cell lines IGROV1 and SKOV3. These cell lines have the propensity to float as clusters, and were isolated from tumor tissue and ascites, respectively.

Ovarian cancer ascites-derived vitronectin and fibronectin: combined purification, molecular features and effects on cell response.

Background: Intra-abdominal ascites is a complication of ovarian cancers and constitutes a permissive microenvironment for metastasis. Since fibronectin and vitronectin are key actors in ovarian cancer progression, we investigated their occurrence and molecular characteristics in various ascites fluids and the influence of these ascites-derived proteins on cell behavior.

Methods: Fibronectin and vitronectin were investigated by immunoblotting within various ascites fluids.

Initial formation of IGROV1 ovarian cancer multicellular aggregates involves vitronectin.

Ovarian cancer progression is frequently associated with the development of malignant ascites. Multicellular aggregates of carcinoma cells (spheroids) found within ascites are thought to be able to promote peritoneal carcinomatosis. We have previously demonstrated the involvement of the vitronectin/alphav integrin adhesive system in the dissemination of ovarian cancer cells and continue to investigate the influence of these molecules by studying their role(s) in spheroid behavior.

EMMPRIN promotes angiogenesis through hypoxia-inducible factor-2alpha-mediated regulation of soluble VEGF isoforms and their receptor VEGFR-2.

Extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer (EMMPRIN/CD147) is thought to promote tumor angiogenesis mostly through its protease-inducing function and more recently by its ability to increase tumor cell expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). In this study, we present evidence that EMMPRIN can promote angiogenesis by a direct effect on endothelial cells through a paracrine regulation of the VEGF/VEGF-receptor (VEGFR) system. Using human microvascular endothelial cell line-1 endothelial cells, we show that EMMPRIN selectively increased the soluble VEGF isoforms (121 and 165), but not the matrix-bound VEGF 189 form.

[Epithelial ovarian tumor microecology].

Epithelial ovarian cancer remains an insidious and fatal gynecological malignancy. They are associated with a poor prognosis mainly due to a late diagnosis and to acquired chemoresistance. Cancer cell environment profoundly influences tumor development.

Vitronectin and its receptors partly mediate adhesion of ovarian cancer cells to peritoneal mesothelium in vitro.

Epithelial ovarian cancer cells metastasize by implanting onto the peritoneal mesothelial surface of the abdominal cavity. Adhesive molecules that lead to this implantation remain unclear. The aim of our study was to focus on the role of vitronectin (Vn) and its receptors, alpha(v) integrins and urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR), in the interactions of ovarian adenocarcinoma cells (IGROV1 and SKOV3 cell lines) with mesothelial cells (MeT-5A cell line and primary cultures).

Tissue engineering for full-thickness burns: a dermal substitute from bench to bedside.

Our aim was to obtain a viable and easily available dermal substitute (DS) for the definitive coverage of full-thickness burns. A DS composed of a collagen-glycosaminoglycan-chitosan dermal matrix (DM) colonized with foreskin fibroblasts (FF) is described. FF-colonized DS were compared to the DM seeded with adult dermal fibroblasts (DF).

Platelets, thrombospondin-1 and human dermal fibroblasts cooperate for stimulation of endothelial cell tubulogenesis through VEGF and PAI-1 regulation.

During cutaneous wound repair, platelets, dermal fibroblasts (DF) and endothelial cells all cooperate. We have presently investigated the regulation of endothelial cell tubulogenesis by human platelet thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1), in comparison to transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) and total platelet lysates (PL), in a fibrin matrix cell culture system incorporating DF. TSP-1, TGF-beta1 and PL all stimulated VEGF expression in DF dose dependently at mRNA and protein level.