Exploring the therapeutic potential of regulatory T cell in rheumatoid arthritis: Insights into subsets, markers, and signaling pathways.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a complex autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic disease characterized by an imbalance between immunological reactivity and immune tolerance. Regulatory T cells (Tregs), which play a crucial role in controlling ongoing autoimmunity and maintaining peripheral tolerance, have shown great potential for the treatment of autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases such as RA. This review aims to provide an updated summary of the latest insights into Treg-targeting techniques in RA. We focus on current therapeutic strategies for targeting Tregs based on discussing their subsets, surface markers, suppressive function, and signaling pathways in RA.

Preparation and Characterization of Emulsion Gels from Whole Faba Bean Flour.

Faba bean protein has good functionalities, but it is little used in the food industry. This study identified a challenge from unfavourable starch gelation when utilizing faba bean for producing protein-based emulsion gel foods, and developed processing methods to overcome that. Two types of protein-based emulsion gel foods, namely yogurt and tofu analogue products, were prepared. The processing methods in this study involved steps of thermal pre-treatment of the beans, dehulling, milling, adding plant oil, homogenization, prevention of starch gelation, and inducing protein gelation. Two methods for preventing starch gelation were studied, namely starch removal and hydrolysis. The gel texture, water-holding capacity, and structural properties of the gel products were evaluated. Both starch-gelation prevention methods produced yogurt and tofu analogue products having typical emulsion gel properties. Hydrolysis of starch was favourable for producing the yogurt analogue, because the hydrolysate compounds improved the gel strength and viscosity. Moreover, it utilized the whole flour, meaning all the nutrients from the cotyledon were used and no side-stream was created. In contrast, starch removal was slightly better than hydrolysis for producing the tofu analogue, because the hydrolysate lowered the gel strength and water-holding capacity of the products. It is both possible and ecologically sustainable to utilize whole faba bean flour for making emulsion gel products.

The effects of graphene quantum dots on the maturation of mouse oocytes and development of offspring.

Recently, graphene nanomaterials have attracted tremendous attention and have been utilized in various fields because of their excellent mechanical, thermal, chemical, optical properties, and good biocompatibility, especially in biomedical aspects. However, there is a concern that the unique characteristics of nanomaterials may have undesirable effects. Therefore, in this study, we sought to systematically investigate the effects of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) on the maturation of mouse oocytes and development of the offspring via in vitro and in vivo studies. In vitro, we found that the first polar body extrusion rate in the high dosage exposure groups (1.0-1.5 mg/ml) 2 decreased significantly and the failure of spindle migration and actin cap formation after GQDs exposure was observed. The underlying mechanisms might be associated with reactive oxygen species accumulation and DNA damage. Moreover, transmission electron microscope studies showed that GQDs may have been internalized into oocytes, tending to accumulate in the nucleus and severely affecting mitochondrial morphology, which included swollen and vacuolated mitochondria accompanied by cristae alteration with a lower amount of dense mitochondrial matrix. In vivo, when pregnant mice were exposed to GQDs at 8.5 days of gestation (GD, 8.5), we found that high dosage of GQD exposure (30 mg/kg) significantly affected mean fetal length; however, all the second generation of female mice grew up normal, attained sexual maturity, and gave birth to a healthy offspring after mating with a healthy male mouse. The results presented in this study are important for the future investigation of GQDs for the biomedical applications.

Protein-lipid co-oxidation in emulsions stabilized by microwave-treated and conventional thermal-treated faba bean proteins.

The course of protein-lipid co-oxidation was investigated in oil-in-water emulsions stabilized with proteins extracted from microwave-treated (MWT) and conventional thermal-treated (CTT) faba beans stored at 37°C for 7 days. Emulsions prepared with proteins from untreated (UT) faba beans and soy protein isolate (SP) were monitored for comparison. Lipid oxidation was detected through formation of primary and secondary oxidation products while protein oxidation was examined via tryptophan fluorescence degradation in interface and aqueous phase. Oxidation of proteins was more emphasized in the interfacial layers of MWT, CTT, and SP emulsions than in UT emulsions due to the prominence of radical chain-driven co-oxidation mechanism while lipoxygenase (LOX) activity in UT and MWT emulsions resulted in high amounts of hydroperoxides and abundance in lipid oxidation volatiles. Conventional thermal treatment provided better oxidative stability than microwave treatment reflected in lower levels of hydroperoxides and relative lack of diversity in lipid volatiles. Among detected volatiles, formation of ketones was more distinguished in MWT, CTT, and SP emulsions while UT emulsions contained a more diverse range of alkenals and alkanals. Ketones are known to form mainly through radical recombination reactions which combined with the results of protein oxidation supports that radical transfer reactions between proteins and lipids were the driving force behind oxidation in MWT, CTT, and SP emulsions. Treatments of faba beans resulted in increased oxidative stability of emulsified lipids and lower degradation of aqueous phase proteins.

[Expression and significance of matriptase in ovarian cancer cells with diverse metastatic potential].

OBJECTIVE: To study the expression and significance of matriptase in different metastatic potential of human ovarian cancer cells. METHODS: High-metastatic human ovarian cancer cell HO8910PM and ovarian cancer cell HO8910 were collected.The ability of metastatic of the former was stronger than that of the latter. Compared the ability of invasion and migration in HO8910PM and HO8910 by scratch assay and by millicell chamber artificial reconstituted basement membrane invasion assay. Detected the matriptase mRNA and protein expression levels in HO8910PM and HO8910 through reverse transcription(RT)-PCR and immunocytochemistry methods. RESULTS: The 24 hours' migration distance (347 ± 8) µm of HO8910PM cells were significantly higher than that in HO8910 group (154 ± 10) µm (P < 0.01);The number of HO8910PM cells that penetrated the matrigel after 24 hours' incubation were significantly higher than that in HO8910 group (90.7 ± 2.1 vs 63.3 ± 1.5,P < 0.01). The expression of matriptase mRNA in HO8910PM cells was higher than that in HO8910 group (0.72 ± 0.03 vs 0.38 ± 0.04,P < 0.01). The migration was positively correlated with the matriptase mRNA expression levels (r = 0.992, P < 0.01); and the invasiveness was also positively correlated with the matriptase mRNA expression levels (r = 0.973, P < 0.01). As far protein level,the expression of matriptase protein in HO8910PM cells was higher than that in HO8910 group (15.6 ± 0.8 vs 7.6 ± 1.3,P < 0.01). The migration was positively correlated with matriptase protein expression levels (r = 0.971, P < 0.01); And the invasiveness was also positively correlated with the matriptase protein expression levels (r = 0.958, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The relationship between the expression levels of matriptase and the metastatic of ovarian cancer cells may be correlative. The function of matriptase in ovarian cancer cells metastatic mechanism still need to be confirmed.

[Relationship between expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP-9) and tumor angiogenesis, cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and metastasis in invasive carcinoma of cervix].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) might plays an important role in regulating processes of tumor angiogenesis, invasion,and metastasis. The expression and clinical significance of MMP-9 in early invasive carcinoma of cervix was investigated. METHODS: Expression of MMP-9, microvessel density (MVD) labeled by CD(34) and proliferation index of cancer cells labeled by Ki-67 in 75 cases of early invasive carcinoma of cervix (ICC), 18 cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasm (CIN), and 15 cases of normal cervical epithelium (NCE) were detected by immunohistochemistry SP method. RESULTS: MMP-9 was mainly expressed in the cellular membrane and/or cytoplasm in tumor cells,whereas expression of Ki-67 was mainly confined to the nuclei, and that of CD(34), to the vascular epithelial cells in tumor stroma. It was shown that positive rate of expression of MMP-9,Ki-67, and MVD increased remarkably from NCE to CIN,and then to ICC accordingly(P< 0.05). In ICC, MVD was positively related to the expression of MMP-9 (r=0.287, P<0.05). The expression of MMP-9 correlated with pelvic lymph node metastasis, intravascular and stromal infiltration, FIGO staging, histological grading,and Ki-67 expression (P< 0.05 or P< 0.01); but not correlated with patients age and histological types (P >0.05). In cases with pelvic lymph node metastasis, intravascular and deeper stroma infiltration, FIGO staging II, histological grade III and over-expression of Ki-67, positive rate of expression of MMP-9 was significantly higher than that in those without the conditions mentioned above (P< 0.05). CONCLUSION: In cervical carcinoma, MMP-9 may play an important role during tumor angiogenesis, proliferation of cancer cells, cancer invasion and metastasis. Over-expression of MMP-9 may result in great increase of tumor angiogenesis, rapid proliferation of cancer cells, cancer invasion and metastasis, but it is not the only decisive factor. Detection expression of MMP-9 may be of value in further understanding the biological behavior and predicting the prognosis of cervical carcinoma.