Stem cell treatments

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Stem cell banking (SCB) is a promising area of modern medicine with the potential to yield innovative treatments and cures. To effectively educate parents and implement laws and regulations that address parental concerns and encourage informed decision-making, it is imperative to emphasize parental viewpoints and their consequences for future healthcare. The study aims to establish the Saudi Arabian population's level of understanding regarding SCB and to comprehend the elements influencing parental knowledge, attitudes, and SCB decision-making processes...

Infertility is a common clinical condition and about half of the major causes are due to male-related infertility. Pathogenesis of this abnormality is generally undefined; so establishing a proper treatment option is relatively uncertain. In recent years, several evidences demonstrated that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can be a hope for innovative and efficient treatment of male infertility. This study reviews possible applications of MSCs in the restoration of spermatogenesis in male infertility of both humans and animals to suggest new avenues for future clinical practices...

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer, has a poor prognosis and lacks effective treatment strategies. Here, the study discovered that TNBC shows a decreased expression of epithelial transcription factor ovo-like 2 (OVOL2). The loss of OVOL2 promotes fatty acid oxidation (FAO), providing additional energy and NADPH to sustain stemness characteristics, including sphere-forming capacity and tumor initiation. Mechanistically, OVOL2 not only suppressed STAT3 phosphorylation by directly inhibiting JAK transcription but also recruited histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) to STAT3, thereby reducing the transcriptional activation of downstream genes carnitine palmitoyltransferase1 (CPT1A and CPT1B)...

BACKGROUND: Although oncogenic RAS mutants are thought to exert mutagenic effects upon blood cells, it remains uncertain how a single oncogenic RAS impacts non-transformed multipotent hematopoietic stem or progenitor cells (HPCs). Such potential pre-malignant status may characterize HPCs in patients with RAS-associated autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome-like disease (RALD). This study sought to elucidate the biological and molecular alterations in human HPCs carrying monoallelic mutant KRAS (G13C) with no other oncogene mutations...

One of the contributing factors in the diagnosis and treatment of most cancers is the identification of their surface antigens. Cancer tissues or cells have their specific antigens. Some antigens that are present in many cancers elicit different functions. One of these antigens is the prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA) antigen, which was first identified in the prostate. PSCA is a cell surface protein that has different functions in different tissues. It can play an inhibitory role in cell proliferation as well as a tumor-inducing role...

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) protects dopaminergic neurons in various models of Parkinson's disease (PD). Cell-based GDNF gene delivery mitigates neurodegeneration and improves both motor and non-motor functions in PD mice. As PD is a chronic condition, this study aims to investigate the long-lasting benefits of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC)-based macrophage/microglia-mediated CNS GDNF (MMC-GDNF) delivery in an MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) mouse model. The results indicate that GDNF treatment effectively ameliorated MPTP-induced motor deficits for up to 12 months, which coincided with the protection of nigral dopaminergic neurons and their striatal terminals...

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system, causing inflammation, demyelination, and neurodegeneration. Understanding the dysregulation of Tregs, dynamic cells involved in autoimmunity, is crucial in comprehending diseases like MS. However, the role of lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (Lag-3) in MS remains unclear. METHODS: In this study, we explore the potential of exosomes derived from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUMSCs-Exs) as an immune modulator in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model for MS...

The pancreas is made of two compartments: the exocrine pancreas, a source of digestive enzymes, and the endocrine islets which produce vital hormones. Distinct diseases could arise in the pancreas such as diabetes, neuroendocrine tumors, pancreatitis, and pancreatic cancers. Various treatment methods are being researched against these diseases. Treatment with recombinant proteins, therapeutic antibodies, vaccination, gene therapy, tissue engineering, and stem cell treatment are treatment methods. Furthermore, biomarkers are important for both treatment and diagnosis...

Autophagy disruption suppresses insulin production and induces diabetes. The role of autophagy in the differentiation of Wharton's jelly (WJ)-derived mesenchymal stem cells (WJSCs) into insulin-producing cells (IPCs) was investigated in this experimental study. The WJSCs were incubated in a differentiation medium (DM) with or without an autophagy inhibitor (3-methyladenine: 3MA). The differentiation of IPCs was confirmed by flow cytometry analysis of PDX-1 and insulin-positive cells, insulin secretion, and the high expression of β cell-specific genes, Glucose transporter 2 (GLUT-2), and INSULIN...

Osteoarthritis (OA) progression is highly associated with chondrocyte mitochondrial dysfunction and disorders of catabolism and anabolism of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in the articular cartilage. The mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt ), which is an integral component of the mitochondrial quality control (MQC) system, is essential for maintaining chondrocyte homeostasis. We successfully validated the pivotal role of activating transcription factor 5 (ATF5) in upregulating the UPRmt , mitigating IL-1β-induced inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction, and promoting balanced metabolism in articular cartilage ECM, proving its potential as a promising therapeutic target for OA...

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is recognized as the most prevalent retinal degenerative disorder. Inflammatory response usually precedes microvascular alteration and is the primary factor of diabetic retinopathy. Activated microglia express many pro-inflammatory cytokines that exacerbate retina inflammation and disruption. In the present study, we found that MSCs alleviated blood-retina barrier (BRB) breakdown in diabetic rats, as evidenced by reduced retinal edema, decreased vascular leakage, and increased occludin expression...

BACKGROUND: Various biomarkers have been developed and evaluated to predict the prognosis and complications of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Most previous studies conducted on different biomarkers evaluated single effects such as those associated with inflammation, immunology, iron metabolism, and nutrition, and only a few studies have comprehensively analyzed markers. OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to survey comprehensive multiple markers prior to HCT and extract those that significantly predict the outcomes...

BACKGROUND: Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) is a rare hematologic malignancy arising from precursor dendritic cells. It is a rare and challenging clinical presentation. For decades, there has been no treatment course for managing BPDCN and its overall prognosis is poor. METHODS AND RESULTS: We report a 27-year-old man who was admitted to the hospital due to an orbital tumor as the first symptom. Progressive enlargement of the orbital tumor was accompanied by multiple purple circular nodules on the body trunk...

PURPOSE: Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell (hucMSC)-derived small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) are natural nanocarriers with promising potential in treating liver fibrosis and have widespread applications in the fields of nanomedicine and regenerative medicine. However, the therapeutic efficacy of natural hucMSC-sEVs is currently limited owing to their non-specific distribution in vivo and partial removal by mononuclear macrophages following systemic delivery. Thus, the therapeutic efficacy can be improved through the development of engineered hucMSC-sEVs capable to overcome these limitations...

Objective: To analyze the efficacy and safety of the L-DEP regimen (asparaginase, liposome doxorubicin, etoposide and methylprednisolone) as a salvage therapy for the refractory primary hemophagocytic lymphohistocytosis triggered by Epstein-Barr virus infection (EBV-pHLH) in children. Methods: In this retrospective case study, clinical and laboratory data before and after L-DEP regimen of 4 children diagnosed with EBV-pHLH in Beijing Children's hospital between January 2016 and June 2022 were collected, and the efficacy and safety of L-DEP regimen for the treatment of EBV-pHLH were analyzed...

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for the treatment of combined immunodeficiency (CID) and explore prognostic risk factors. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, clinical characteristics, laboratory tests and prognosis of 73 CID children who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from February 2014 to April 2022 in the Children's Hospital of Fudan University were analyzed. Based on the subtypes of diseases, all patients were divided into severe combined immunodeficiency disease (SCID) group and other CID group...

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia (JMML) is a rare myeloproliferative neoplasm requiring haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for potential cure. Relapse poses a significant obstacle to JMML HSCT treatment, as the lack of effective minimal residual disease (MRD)-monitoring methods leads to delayed interventions. This retrospective study utilized the droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) technique, a highly sensitive nucleic acid detection and quantification technique, to monitor MRD in 32 JMML patients. The results demonstrated that ddPCR detected relapse manifestations earlier than traditional methods and uncovered molecular insights into JMML MRD dynamics...

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) generally presents as an immunosuppressive microenvironment. The characteristics of cell-to-cell communication in the LUAD microenvironment has been unclear. In this study, the LUAD bulk RNA-seq data and single-cell RNA-seq data were retrieved from public dataset. Differential expression genes (DEGs) between LUAD tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues were calculated by limma algorithm, and then detected by PPI, KEGG, and GO analysis. Cell-cell interactions were explored using the single-cell RNA-seq data...

BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), characterized by β-cell dysfunction and insulin resistance (IR), presents considerable treatment challenges. Apelin is an adipocyte-derived factor that shows promise in improving IR; however, it is limited by poor targeting and a short half-life. In the present study, engineered small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) derived from Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) loaded with apelin were used to address the limitations of the therapeutic application of apelin...

BACKGROUND: Chemotherapy exposure has become a main cause of premature ovarian insufficiency (POI). This study aimed to evaluate the role and molecular mechanism of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (hUMSC-Exos) in ovarian function protection after chemotherapy. METHODS: hUMSC-Exos were applied to cyclophosphamide-induced premature ovarian insufficiency mice and human ovarian granulosa tumor cells (KGN) to determine their effects on follicular development and granulosa cell apoptosis...