Proatherosclerotic Effect of the α1-Subunit of Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase by Promoting Smooth Muscle Phenotypic Switching.

Soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC), a key enzyme of the nitric oxide signaling pathway, is formed as a heterodimer by various isoforms of its α and β subunit. GUCY1A3, encoding the α1 subunit, was identified as a risk gene for coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction, but its specific contribution to atherosclerosis remains unclear. This study sought to decipher the role of Gucy1a3 in atherosclerosis in mice.

Knock-out of nexilin in mice leads to dilated cardiomyopathy and endomyocardial fibroelastosis.

Cardiomyopathy is one of the most common causes of chronic heart failure worldwide. Mutations in the gene encoding nexilin (NEXN) occur in patients with both hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM); however, little is known about the pathophysiological mechanisms and relevance of NEXN to these disorders. Here, we evaluated the functional role of NEXN using a constitutive Nexn knock-out (KO) mouse model.

Laser printing of skin cells and human stem cells.

Laser printing based on laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) is a new biofabrication technique for the arrangement of biological materials or living cells in well-defined patterns. In the current study, skin cell lines (fibroblasts/keratinocytes) and human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) were chosen for laser printing experiments due to their high potential in regeneration of human skin and new application possibilities of stem cell therapy. To evaluate the influence of LIFT on the cells, their survival rate, their proliferation and apoptotic activity, and the DNA damages and modifications of their cell surface markers were assessed and statistically evaluated over several days.

Low-dose oral metronomic chemotherapy prevents mobilization of endothelial progenitor cells into the blood of cancer patients.

Unlabelled: Circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) actively supply cells that may participate in tumor angiogenesis. The differing effects of low-dose metronomic trofosfamide as opposed to conventional dose-dense chemotherapy on plasma levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and the numbers of circulating EPC are reported.

Patients And Methods: Blood samples were obtained from cancer patients, 18 receiving oral metronomic chemotherapy of trofosfamide with or without celecoxib, and 24 receiving conventional dose-dense chemotherapy, eight of them in adjuvant intention.

Vasculogeneic maturation of E14 embryonic stem cells with evidence of early vascular endothelial growth factor independency.

Murine embryonic stem cells (ESC) provide a unique homogeneous cell system for studying early vasculogenic cell differentiation in vitro. In this report, we characterized endothelial development of cultured E14 ESCs and mapped the effects of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) on these cells. After removal of leukemia inhibitory factor undifferentiated state ESCs were precultured for 6 days and then cultured for up to 30 days in differentiation culture medium, with or without supplemental VEGF.

Bone marrow-derived endothelial cells contribute to angiogenesis in murine WEHI and JC tumors.

The goal of this study was to determine the contribution of bone marrow-derived circulating endothelial progenitor cells to the formation of endothelial cell linings of tumor vessel walls. The proportion of male endothelial cells in female JC and WEHI tumors was measured in male BALB/c mice and in female mice displaying complete marrow chimerism, after receiving male bone marrow cells. The gender origin of the perivascular endothelial cells was determined by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis of adjacent cuts of the tumors, using CD31 and Y-chromosomes as markers.