Metabolic reprogramming of poly(morpho)nuclear giant cells determines glioblastoma recovery from doxorubicin-induced stress.

Background: Multi-drug resistance of poly(morpho)nuclear giant cells (PGCs) determines their cytoprotective and generative potential in cancer ecosystems. However, mechanisms underlying the involvement of PGCs in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) adaptation to chemotherapeutic regimes remain largely obscure. In particular, metabolic reprogramming of PGCs has not yet been considered in terms of GBM recovery from doxorubicin (DOX)-induced stress.

The role of TGF-β in the electrotactic reaction of mouse 3T3 fibroblasts .

Endogenous electric fields (EFs) serve as a crucial signal to guide cell movement in processes such as wound healing, embryonic development, and cancer metastasis. However, the mechanism underlying cell electrotaxis remains poorly understood. A plausible hypothesis suggests that electrophoretic or electroosmotic forces may rearrange charged components of the cell membrane, including receptors for chemoattractants which induce asymmetric signaling and directional motility.

The dynamics of the electrotactic reaction of mouse 3T3 fibroblasts.

The molecular mechanisms behind electrotaxis remain largely unknown, with no identified primary direct current electric field (dcEF) sensor. Two leading hypotheses propose mechanisms involving the redistribution of charged components in the cell membrane (driven by electrophoresis or electroosmosis) and the asymmetric activation of ion channels. To investigate these mechanisms, we studied the dynamics of electrotactic behaviour of mouse 3T3 fibroblasts.

Ground truth based comparison of saliency maps algorithms.

Deep neural networks (DNNs) have achieved outstanding results in domains such as image processing, computer vision, natural language processing and bioinformatics. In recent years, many methods have been proposed that can provide a visual explanation of decision made by such classifiers. Saliency maps are probably the most popular.

Impact of elastic substrate on the dynamic heterogeneity of WC256 Walker carcinosarcoma cells.

Cellular heterogeneity is a phenomenon in which cell populations are composed of subpopulations that vary in their behavior. Heterogeneity is particularly pronounced in cancer cells and can affect the efficacy of oncological therapies. Previous studies have considered heterogeneity dynamics to be indicative of evolutionary changes within subpopulations; however, these studies do not consider the short-time morphological plasticity of cells.

Bronchial Fibroblasts from Asthmatic Patients Display Impaired Responsiveness to Direct Current Electric Fields (dcEFs).

Accumulating evidence suggests that an important role is played by electric signals in modifying cell behaviour during developmental, regenerative and pathological processes. However, their role in asthma has not yet been addressed. Bronchial fibroblasts have recently been identified having important roles in asthma development.

Asthma-derived fibroblast to myofibroblast transition is enhanced in comparison to fibroblasts derived from non-asthmatic patients in 3D in vitro culture due to Smad2/3 signalling.

The basic hallmarks of bronchial asthma, one of the most common chronic diseases occurring in the world, are chronic inflammation, remodelling of the bronchial wall and its hyperresponsiveness to environmental stimuli. It was found out that the fibroblast to myofibroblast transition (FMT), a key phenomenon in subepithelial fibrosis of the bronchial wall, was crucial for the development of asthma. Our previous studies showed that HBFs derived from asthmatic patients cultured in vitro display some inherent features which facilitate their TGF-b-induced FMT.

Fenofibrate Reduces the Asthma-Related Fibroblast-To-Myofibroblast Transition by TGF-Β/Smad2/3 Signaling Attenuation and Connexin 43-Dependent Phenotype Destabilization.

The activation of human bronchial fibroblasts by transforming growth factor-β₁ (TGF-β₁) leads to the formation of highly contractile myofibroblasts in the process of the fibroblast⁻myofibroblast transition (FMT). This process is crucial for subepithelial fibrosis and bronchial wall remodeling in asthma. However, this process evades current therapeutic asthma treatment strategies.

Electrotaxis: Cell Directional Movement in Electric Fields.

Electrotaxis plays an important role during embryogenesis, inflammation, wound healing, and tumour metastasis. However, the mechanisms at play during electrotaxis are still poorly understood. Therefore intensive studies on signaling pathways involved in this phenomenon should be carried out.

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC)-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Are Safer and More Effective for Cardiac Repair Than iPSCs.

Rationale: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are tiny membrane-enclosed droplets released by cells through membrane budding or exocytosis. The myocardial reparative abilities of EVs derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have not been directly compared with the source iPSCs.

Objective: To examine whether iPSC-derived EVs can influence the biological functions of cardiac cells in vitro and to compare the safety and efficacy of iPSC-derived EVs (iPSC-EVs) and iPSCs for cardiac repair in vivo.

Polyion complex vesicles (PICsomes) from strong copolyelectrolytes. Stability and in vitro studies.

Polymer vesicles formed by a pair of oppositely charged diblock copolyelectrolytes (PICsomes) are considered as a good alternative to polymersomes formed by amphiphilic copolymers. Here, we report on inherent stability and in vitro biocompatibility of PICsomes prepared from a pair of oppositely charged zwitterionic-ionic copolymers, in which the ionic block is a strong polyelectrolyte. Our results demonstrated that the PICsomes are highly stable over a wide range of pH and temperatures.

[FRET-based biosensors in cell migration research].

Cell migration is a complicated process, which is crucial for functioning of multicellular organisms. Multiple signalling pathways are deeply involved in the precise control of consecutive cell migration stages based on remodelling of the actin cytoskeleton. Small Rho GTPases (RhoA, Rac1 and Cdc42) as well as multiple protein and lipid kinases, calcium ions and mechanosensors are crucial components in this process.

Electric field as a potential directional cue in homing of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells to cutaneous wounds.

Bone marrow-derived cells are thought to participate and enhance the healing process contributing to skin cells or releasing regulatory cytokines. Directional cell migration in a weak direct current electric field (DC-EF), known as electrotaxis, may be a way of cell recruitment to the wound site. Here we examined the influence of electric field on bone marrow adherent cells (BMACs) and its potential role as a factor attracting mesenchymal stem cells to cutaneous wounds.

Lamellipodia and Membrane Blebs Drive Efficient Electrotactic Migration of Rat Walker Carcinosarcoma Cells WC 256.

The endogenous electric field (EF) may provide an important signal for directional cell migration during wound healing, embryonic development and cancer metastasis but the mechanism of cell electrotaxis is poorly understood. Additionally, there is no research addressing the question on the difference in electrotactic motility of cells representing various strategies of cell movement-specifically blebbing vs. lamellipodial migration.

The role of microtubules in electrotaxis of rat Walker carcinosarcoma WC256 cells.

The endogenous electric field may provide an important signal for directional cell migration during cancer metastasis but the mechanism of cell electrotaxis is poorly understood. It was postulated that microtubules play a central role in the polarization and directional migration of several types of cells. In this paper we investigated the role of microtubules in electrotaxis of rat Walker carcinosarcoma WC256 cells.

Modelling the efficacy of hyperthermia treatment.

Multimodal oncological strategies which combine chemotherapy or radiotherapy with hyperthermia, have a potential of improving the efficacy of the non-surgical methods of cancer treatment. Hyperthermia engages the heat-shock response (HSR) mechanism, the main component of which are heat-shock proteins. Cancer cells have already partially activated HSR, thereby hyperthermia may be more toxic to them relative to normal cells.

Triterpene saponosides from Lysimachia ciliata differentially attenuate invasive potential of prostate cancer cells.

Neither androgen ablation nor chemotherapeutic agents are effective in reducing the risk of prostate cancer progression. On the other hand, multifaceted effects of phytochemicals, such as triterpene saponins, on cancer cells have been suggested. A promising safety and tolerability profile indicate their possible application in the treatment of advanced prostate cancers.

Lovastatin-induced decrease of intracellular cholesterol level attenuates fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition in bronchial fibroblasts derived from asthmatic patients.

Chronic inflammation of the airways and structural changes in the bronchial wall are basic hallmarks of asthma. Human bronchial fibroblasts derived from patients with diagnosed asthma display in vitro predestination towards TGF-β-induced fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition (FMT), a key event in the bronchial wall remodelling. Statins inhibit 3-hydroxymethyl-3-glutaryl coenzyme A reductase, a key enzyme in the cholesterol synthesis pathway and are widely used as antilipidemic drugs.

Tav4SB: integrating tools for analysis of kinetic models of biological systems.

Background: Progress in the modeling of biological systems strongly relies on the availability of specialized computer-aided tools. To that end, the Taverna Workbench eases integration of software tools for life science research and provides a common workflow-based framework for computational experiments in Biology.

Results: The Taverna services for Systems Biology (Tav4SB) project provides a set of new Web service operations, which extend the functionality of the Taverna Workbench in a domain of systems biology.

Analyzing stationary States of gene regulatory network using petri nets.

We introduce and formally define the notion of a stationary state for Petri nets. We also propose a fully automatic method for finding such states. The procedure makes use of the Presburger arithmetic to describe all the stationary states.

On subset seeds for protein alignment.

We apply the concept of subset seeds to similarity search in protein sequences. The main question studied is the design of efficient seed alphabets to construct seeds with optimal sensitivity/selectivity trade-offs. We propose several different design methods and use them to construct several alphabets.

Diversity and structure of PIF/Harbinger-like elements in the genome of Medicago truncatula.

Background: Transposable elements constitute a significant fraction of plant genomes. The PIF/Harbinger superfamily includes DNA transposons (class II elements) carrying terminal inverted repeats and producing a 3 bp target site duplication upon insertion. The presence of an ORF coding for the DDE/DDD transposase, required for transposition, is characteristic for the autonomous PIF/Harbinger-like elements.

Analyzing stationary states of gene regulatory network using petri nets.

We introduce and formally define the notion of a stationary state for Petri nets. We also propose a fully automatic method for finding such states. The procedure makes use of the Presburger arithmetic to describe all the stationary states.

Contextual alignment of biological sequences (Extended abstract).

We present a model of contextual alignment of biological sequences. It is an extension of the classical alignment, in which we assume that the cost of a substitution depends on the surrounding symbols. In this model the cost of transforming one sequence into another depends on the order of editing operations.