Isolation of Functional SARS-CoV-2 Antigen-Specific T-Cells with Specific Viral Cytotoxic Activity for Adoptive Therapy of COVID-19.

In order to demonstrate the feasibility of preparing clinical-grade SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cells from convalescent donors and the ability of these cells to neutralize the virus in vitro, we used blood collected from two COVID-19 convalescent donors (before and after vaccination) that was stimulated with specific SARS-CoV-2 peptides followed by automated T-cell isolation using the CliniMacs Prodigy medical device. To determine cytotoxic activity, HEK 293T cells were transfected to express the SARS-CoV-2 M protein, mimicking SARS-CoV-2 infection. We were able to quickly and efficiently isolate SARS-CoV-2-specific T lymphocytes from both donors before and after they received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

NKG2D-CAR-transduced natural killer cells efficiently target multiple myeloma.

CAR-T-cell therapy against MM currently shows promising results, but usually with serious toxicities. CAR-NK cells may exert less toxicity when redirected against resistant myeloma cells. CARs can be designed through the use of receptors, such as NKG2D, which recognizes a wide range of ligands to provide broad target specificity.

Natural killer cells efficiently target multiple myeloma clonogenic tumor cells.

The multiple myeloma (MM) landscape has changed in the last few years, but most patients eventually relapse because current treatment modalities do not target clonogenic stem cells, which are drug-resistant and can self-renew. We hypothesized that side population (SP) cells represent myeloma clonogenic stem cells and, searching for new treatment strategies, analyzed the anti-myeloma activity of natural killer (NK) cells against clonogenic cells. Activated and expanded NK cells (NKAE) products were obtained by co-culturing NK cells from MM patients with K562-mb15-41BBL cell line and characterized by flow cytometry.

Cerebrolysin reverses hippocampal neural atrophy in a mice model of diabetes mellitus type 1.

The animal model of streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus type 1 (DM1) is used to study neuronal and behavioral changes produced by an increase in blood-glucose levels. Our previous report showed that chronic streptozotocin administration induced atrophy of dendritic morphology of pyramidal neurons of the CA1 dorsal hippocampus. In addition, we showed that Cerebrolysin (Cbl), a neurotrophic peptide mixture, reduces the dendritic atrophy in animal models of aging.

L-type Ca²⁺ channel activity determines modulation of GABA release by dopamine in the substantia nigra reticulata and the globus pallidus of the rat.

Modulation of L-type Ca²⁺-channel function by dopamine is a major determinant of the rate of action potential firing by striatal medium spiny neurons. However, the role of these channels in modulating GABA release by nerve terminals in the basal ganglia is unknown. We found that depolarization-induced [³H]GABA release in both the substantia nigra reticulata and the external globus pallidus (GPe), was depressed by about 50% by either the selective L-channel dihydropyridine blocker nifedipine or the P/Q channel blocker ω-agatoxin TK.