Therapeutic Efficacy of Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Mesenchymal Stem Cells-derived Neural Progenitors in Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The goal of treatment for MS is to reduce the inflammation and induce the regeneration of degenerated axons. Considering the anti-inflammatory and regenerative capacity of mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs), in this study the therapeutic efficacy of allogeneic MSCs and MSCs-derived neural progenitor cells (MSCs-NPs) was investigated in cellular therapy of chronic experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). METHODS AND RESULTS: MSCs, MSCs-NPs and MSCs+MSCs-NP were administered intravenously to EAE mice on days 22, 29, and 36 post immunization. The levels of cytokines and PGE2 in sera or supernatant of in vitro cultured splenocytes derived from treated mice were measured by ELISA. The results of this study showed that in comparison to MSCs monotherapy, MSCs-NPs administration had a more profound capability of inhibiting the proliferation of pathogenic MOG35–55-specific T cells, decreasing IFN-γ production and increasing anti-inflammatory IL-10 cytokine production. These findings could be explained by higher ability of in vitro cultured MSCs-NPs in production of PGE2 compared to MSCs. In line with these findings, while the administration of MSCs and MSCs-NPs significantly decreased the clinical scores of EAE in comparison with the untreated EAE group, MSCs-NPs were significantly more efficient in reducing clinical score compared to MSCs. Of interest, combined therapy with MSCs and MSCs-NPs did not provide any benefit over monotherapy with MSCs-NPs. CONCLUSIONS: In comparison to MSCs, allogenic MSCs-NPs are more potent in the attenuation of EAE.

p53 protein expression and its relation to the apoptotic index in prostate adenocarcinoma

Bakgorund: Prostate cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in males. Tumor suppressor gene p53 plays an important role in causing cell cycle arrest and allowing apoptosis to proceed

Objective: To investigate the expression of p53 protein and its relation to apoptosis and prostate cancer traditional prognostic indicators

Methods: In this study expression of p53 was examined in paraffin-embedded tissues from 50 cases of prostate carcinoma by immunohistochemistry and evaluated using an index of staining. Correlation between p53 expression and apoptosis was detected by TUNEL method. Pathological grade, Gleason score and stage of carcinoma were also determined

Results: P53 expression was observed in 48 of 50 cases [26-100% of tumor cells] with mean staining index of 141 +/- 65. A significant association between p53 expression and pathologic grade [r=0.37, p=0.004] and Gleason score [r= 0.4, p=0.009] of patients was observed. Apoptosis was detected in only 6 patients

Conclusions: p53 expression showed no correlation with apoptotic index. No correlation between p53 expression and stage or apoptosis and clinicopathological characteristics of patients was found. p53 expression showed a significant correlation with differentiation status of the prostate carcinoma and can be helpful as a prognostic marker. Decreased level of apoptosis observed in our cases was not correlated with p53 expression indicating the possible role of other regulatory molecules involved in the apoptosis