Coenzyme A fueling with pantethine limits autoreactive T cell pathogenicity in experimental neuroinflammation.

Background: Immune cell metabolism governs the outcome of immune responses and contributes to the development of autoimmunity by controlling lymphocyte pathogenic potential. In this study, we evaluated the metabolic profile of myelin-specific murine encephalitogenic T cells, to identify novel therapeutic targets for autoimmune neuroinflammation.

Methods: We performed metabolomics analysis on actively-proliferating encephalitogenic T cells to study their overall metabolic profile in comparison to resting T cells.

Morphological and Functional Changes in the Peritumoral Adipose Tissue of Colorectal Cancer Patients.

Objective: The role of peritumoral adipose tissue (AT) has not been extensively studied in colorectal cancer (CRC).

Methods: This study was conducted in 20 male subjects undergoing elective surgery for CRC. The differences between the peritumoral visceral adipose tissue (P-VAT), visceral adipose tissue (VAT), and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) of the patients were described via immunohistochemistry and molecular biology analyses.

Predictors of Ectopic Fat in Humans.

In the last decade there has been increasing focus on body fat distribution, rather than on the degree of obesity. More recently, great interest has also been dedicated to ectopic fat deposition in overnourished individuals that reflects a failure of the system of intracellular lipid homeostasis, which, in normal conditions, prevents lipotoxicity in the organs, by confining lipid overload to cells specifically designed to store large quantities of surplus calories, the white adipocytes. Consequently, excess body weight leads to fat infiltration of multiple organs including liver, pancreas, skeletal muscle, and heart thus forming "ectopic fat".

The pathogenetic bases of sarcopenia.

Aging is accompanied by involuntary loss of skeletal muscle mass, strength and function, called sarcopenia. The mechanisms underlying the development of sarcopenia are not completely understood and most likely multi-factorial, but significant progress has been made over the past few years to identify some of the major contributors. Besides life style-related factors, as diet and physical activity, sarcopenia seems to be also determined by hormonal dysregulation, chronic inflammatory status, ectopic adipose tissue accumulation, neurological and vascular changes associated with aging.

Vascular inflammation in central nervous system diseases: adhesion receptors controlling leukocyte-endothelial interactions.

Leukocyte trafficking from the blood into the tissues represents a key process during inflammation and requires multiple steps mediated by adhesion molecules and chemoattractants. Inflammation has a detrimental role in several diseases, and in such cases, the molecular mechanisms controlling leukocyte migration are potential therapeutic targets. Over the past 20 years, leukocyte migration in the CNS has been investigated almost exclusively in the context of stroke and MS.