Therapeutic efficacy of intranasally delivered mesenchymal stem cells in a rat model of Parkinson disease.

Safe and effective cell delivery remains one of the main challenges in cell-based therapy of neurodegenerative disorders. Graft survival, sufficient enrichment of therapeutic cells in the brain, and avoidance of their distribution throughout the peripheral organs are greatly influenced by the method of delivery. Here we demonstrate for the first time noninvasive intranasal (IN) delivery of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to the brains of unilaterally 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-lesioned rats. IN application (INA) of MSCs resulted in the appearance of cells in the olfactory bulb, cortex, hippocampus, striatum, cerebellum, brainstem, and spinal cord. Out of 1 × 106 MSCs applied intranasally, 24% survived for at least 4.5 months in the brains of 6-OHDA rats as assessed by quantification of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) DNA. Quantification of proliferating cell nuclear antigen-positive EGFP-MSCs showed that 3% of applied MSCs were proliferative 4.5 months after application. INA of MSCs increased the tyrosine hydroxylase level in the lesioned ipsilateral striatum and substantia nigra, and completely eliminated the 6-OHDA-induced increase in terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated 2'-deoxyuridine, 5'-triphosphate (dUTP)-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining of these areas. INA of EGFP-labeled MSCs prevented any decrease in the dopamine level in the lesioned hemisphere, whereas the lesioned side of the control animals revealed significantly lower levels of dopamine 4.5 months after 6-OHDA treatment. Behavioral analyses revealed significant and substantial improvement of motor function of the Parkinsonian forepaw to up to 68% of the normal value 40-110 days after INA of 1 × 106 cells. MSC-INA decreased the concentrations of inflammatory cytokines-interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), IL-2, -6, -12, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interferon-γ (IFN-γ, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF)-in the lesioned side to their levels in the intact hemisphere. IN administration provides a highly promising noninvasive alternative to the traumatic surgical procedure of transplantation and allows targeted delivery of cells to the brain with the option of chronic application.

A beta-catenin-dependent pathway regulates expression of cytochrome P450 isoforms in mouse liver tumors.

Phenobarbital (PB) is a model tumor promoter in the rodent liver. In the mouse, the promotional effect of PB results from a selective stimulation of clonal outgrowth of hepatocytes harboring activating mutations in the beta-catenin (catnb) gene. Glutamine synthetase (GS), a downstream target in the Wnt/beta-catenin/T-cell factor (TCF) signaling pathway, is strongly up-regulated in catnb-mutated mouse liver tumors and may serve as a marker for their identification. Here we show that the levels of several cytochrome P450 (CYP) isoenzymes are also altered in GS-positive liver tumors. Immunohistochemical and western blotting analyses demonstrated that GS-positive, catnb-mutated tumors showed levels of CYP1A, CYP2B, CYP2C and CYP2E1, which were similar or slightly enhanced in comparison with non-tumoral liver tissue. This contrasts with tumors without catnb mutations, which exhibited decreased levels of these CYP isoforms. Real-time RT-PCR revealed that the differences in CYP levels in the tumors corresponded to changes in the respective mRNAs. Mouse hepatoma cells were transiently transfected with an expression vector encoding an S33Y-mutated beta-catenin protein, which was functional with regard to transactivation of a beta-catenin/TCF-responsive (topflash) reporter construct. Co-transfected with luciferase reporter vectors containing either the regulatory upstream sequence of the CYP2B1 gene or three dioxin-responsive core elements were activated by S33Y-beta-catenin. These results indicate that mutation of catnb leads to transcriptional activation of CYP isoenzymes in mouse liver tumors. As CYPs are involved in both the activation and the inactivation of several clinically important anticancer drugs, our findings may be relevant for chemotherapy of human cancers, where activation of beta-catenin-dependent signaling by mutation of the gene or alternative mechanisms is frequently observed.