Effects of Dietary Supplementation with a Ferulic Acid-Rich Bioactive Component of Wheat Bran in a Murine Model of Graft-Versus-Host Disease.

Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a common and severe complication following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Its prevention and treatment is a major challenge. Ferulic acid (FA) has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that could be attractive in this setting. Our aim was to evaluate a bioactive ingredient derived from wheat bran (WB), selected for its high concentration of FA, in a murine model of GvHD. The ingredient was obtained via a bioprocess involving hydrolysis and spray-drying. GvHD was induced via HSCT between MHC-mismatched mouse strains. FA treatment was administered orally. Survival and disease scores (weight loss, hunching, activity, fur texture, and skin integrity, each scored between 0 and 2 depending on disease severity) were recorded daily, histological evaluation was performed at the end of the experiment, and serum inflammatory cytokines were analyzed on days 9 and 28. Treatment with FA did not protect GvHD mice from death, nor did it diminish GvHD scores. However, histological analysis showed that ulcers with large areas of inflammatory cells, vessels, and keratin were less common in skin samples from FA-treated mice. Areas of intense inflammatory response were also seen in fewer small intestine samples from treated mice. In addition, a slight decrease in INF-γ and TNF-α expression was observed in the serum of treated mice on day 28. The results showed some local effect of the ingredient intervention, but that the dose used may not be sufficient to control or reduce the inflammatory response at the systemic level in mice with GvHD. Higher dosages of FA may have an impact when evaluating the immunomodulatory capabilities of the hydrolyzed WB ingredient. Thus, further experiments and the use of technological strategies that enrich the ingredients in soluble ferulic acid to improve its efficacy in this setting are warranted.

Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Combined With Elastin-Like Recombinamers Increase Angiogenesis In Vivo After Hindlimb Ischemia.

Hindlimb ischemia is an unmet medical need, especially for those patients unable to undergo vascular surgery. Cellular therapy, mainly through mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) administration, may be a potentially attractive approach in this setting. In the current work, we aimed to assess the potential of the combination of MSCs with a proangiogenic elastin-like recombinamer (ELR)-based hydrogel in a hindlimb ischemia murine model. Human bone marrow MSCs were isolated from four healthy donors, while ELR biomaterials were genetically engineered. Hindlimb ischemia was induced through ligation of the right femoral artery, and mice were intramuscularly injected with ELR biomaterial, 0.5 × 106 MSCs or the combination, and also compared to untreated animals. Tissue perfusion was monitored using laser Doppler perfusion imaging. Histological analysis of hindlimbs was performed after hematoxylin and eosin staining. Immunofluorescence with anti-human mitochondria antibody was used for human MSC detection, and the biomaterial was detected by elastin staining. To analyze the capillary density, immunostaining with an anti-CD31 antibody was performed. Our results show that the injection of MSCs significantly improves tissue reperfusion from day 7 (p = 0.0044) to day 21 (p = 0.0216), similar to the infusion of MSC + ELR (p = 0.0038, p = 0.0014), without significant differences between both groups. After histological evaluation, ELR hydrogels induced minimal inflammation in the injection sites, showing biocompatibility. MSCs persisted with the biomaterial after 21 days, both in vitro and in vivo. Finally, we observed a higher blood vessel density when mice were treated with MSCs compared to control (p<0.0001), but this effect was maximized and significantly different to the remaining experimental conditions when mice were treated with the combination of MSCs and the ELR biomaterial (p < 0.0001). In summary, the combination of an ELR-based hydrogel with MSCs may improve the angiogenic effects of both strategies on revascularization of ischemic tissues.

Granuloma Formation in a Cyba-Deficient Model of Chronic Granulomatous Disease Is Associated with Myeloid Hyperplasia and the Exhaustion of B-Cell Lineage.

Haematopoiesis is a paradigm of cell differentiation because of the wide variety and overwhelming number of mature blood cells produced daily. Under stress conditions, the organism must adapt to a boosted demand for blood cells. Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a genetic disease caused by inactivating mutations that affect the phagocyte oxidase. Besides a defective innate immune system, CGD patients suffer from recurrent hyper-inflammation episodes, circumstances upon which they must face emergency haematopoiesis. The targeting of Cybb and Ncf1 genes have produced CGD animal models that are a useful surrogate when studying the pathophysiology and treatment of this disease. Here, we show that Cyba-/- mice spontaneously develop granuloma and, therefore, constitute a CGD animal model to complement the existing Cybb-/- and Ncf1-/- models. More importantly, we have analysed haematopoiesis in granuloma-bearing Cyba-/- mice. These animals showed a significant loss of weight, developed remarkable splenomegaly, bone marrow myeloid hyperplasia, and signs of anaemia. Haematological analyses showed a sharped decrease of B-cells and a striking development of myeloid cells in all compartments. Collectively, our results show that granuloma inflammatory lesions dramatically change haematopoiesis homeostasis. Consequently, we suggest that besides their defective innate immunity, the alteration of haematopoiesis homeostasis upon granuloma may contribute to the dismal outcome of CGD.

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase/AKT signaling can promote AIB1 stability independently of GSK3 phosphorylation.

The transcriptional coactivator AIB1 is an oncogene overexpressed in different types of tumors, including breast cancer. Although the subcellular compartimentalization of AIB1 seems to be intimately linked to abnormal proliferation, the molecular mechanisms that regulate its subcellular distribution are not well defined. Here, we report that the nuclear accumulation and half-life of AIB1 vary between cancer cell lines. Using these differences as an experimental model, our results reveal that alterations to the Akt signaling pathway and nuclear export determine the stability of AIB1 and nuclear content of this coactivator. Moreover, our results show that AIB1 is degraded in the nucleus by the proteasome in an ubiquitin-dependent manner. However, this process does not require phosphorylation by GSK3, thereby revealing an alternative mechanism for regulating the turnover of AIB1. We define a new region at the carboxy terminus of AIB1 that is required for proteasome-dependent transcriptional activation and is preceded by a PEST domain that is required for adequate protein turnover. Based on differences in Akt signaling and the subcellular distribution of AIB1 between different cell lines, our results suggest that dysregulation of nuclear shuttling and proteasomal degradation may modulate the oncogenic potential of AIB1.

Moderate overexpression of AIB1 triggers pre-neoplastic changes in mammary epithelium.

Here we report a new model of pre-clinical breast cancer which has been generated by overexpressing the steroid receptor coactivator AIB1 at moderate levels in breast epithelium. Transgenic female mice display mammary hyperplasia at the onset of puberty, consistent with enhanced proliferation of primary mammary epithelial cultures and augmented levels of cyclin D1 and E-cadherin. Studies of BrdU incorporation revealed that AIB1 localizes to the nucleus during or after S phase, implicating a new role for AIB1 in cell-cycle progression subsequent to G1. Our findings suggest that moderate overexpression of AIB1 may represent one of the pre-neoplastic changes in breast tissue.

Microarray-based analysis of spinal versus intracranial meningiomas: different clinical, biological, and genetic characteristics associated with distinct patterns of gene expression.

It has long been recognized that spinal meningiomas show particular clinical and histological features. Here, we compare the clinico-biological characteristics as well as the genetic abnormalities and patterns of gene expression of spinal and intracranial meningiomas. Fourteen spinal and 141 intracranial meningioma patients were analyzed at diagnosis. In all tumors, interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (iFISH) studies were performed for the detection of quantitative abnormalities for 11 different chromosomes. Additionally, microarray analyses were performed on a subgroup of 18 histologically benign meningiomas (7 spinal and 11 intracranial). Upon comparison with intracranial tumors, spinal meningiomas showed a marked predominance of psammomatous and transitional tumors (p = 0.001), together with a higher proportion of cases displaying a single tumor cell clone by iFISH (p = 0.004). In 86% of the spinal versus 56% of the intracranial tumors (p = 0.01), the ancestral tumor cell clone detected showed either absence of any chromosomal abnormality or monosomy 22/22q- alone. Analysis of gene expression profiles showed differential expression between spinal and intracranial meningiomas for a total of 1555 genes, 35 of which allowed a clear distinction between both tumor types. Most of these 35 genes (n = 30) showed significantly higher expression among spinal tumors and corresponded to genes involved in signal transduction pathways, which did not show a significantly different expression according to tumor histopathology. In summary, we show the occurrence of unique patterns of genetic abnormalities and gene expression profiles in spinal as compared to intracranial meningiomas that provide new insights into the molecular pathways involved in the tumorigenesis and progression of spinal meningiomas, and could help explain their particular clinical and histological features.