Endothelial progenitor cells proliferated via MEK-dependent p42 MAPK signaling pathway

Arthroscopy combined with high tibial osteotomy promotes cartilage regeneration in osteoarthritis

BACKGROUND

To investigate the effect of arthroscopy combined with high tibial osteotomy (HTO) on cartilage regeneration in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of 50 patients with varus and medial compartment osteoarthritis of the knee treated by arthroscopy combined with HTO. One year after the operation, a second-look arthroscopy was performed to observe the cartilage regeneration. The regeneration of cartilage was evaluated by different pathological staining of some of the new cartilage. Finally, part of the new cartilages (n = 6) were taken for quantitative real-time PCR and western blotting experiments to display the mechanism of cartilage regeneration.

RESULTS

One year after arthroscopy combined with HTO, the results of arthroscopy revealed the formation of new tissue in the defect area of the medial compartment's cartilage in the knee joint. In addition, different pathological staining results indicated that the new tissue was cartilage-like tissue. Furthermore, HTO potently up-regulated the expression of p-ERK1/2 at the protein level in knee osteoarthritis patients compared with control group. However, there was no significant difference in the relative expression of collagen II at mRNA and protein level between control group and knee osteoarthritis patients.

CONCLUSION

Arthroscopy combined with HTO can promote cartilage regeneration in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Human umbilical cord blood-mesenchymal stem cell-derived secretome in combination with atorvastatin enhances endothelial progenitor cells proliferation and migration

Background: Human umbilical cord blood-mesenchymal stem cell (hUCB-MSC)-derived secretome is known to be able to promote neovascularization and angiogenesis, so it is also thought to have a capability to modulate endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) functions. Atorvastatin is the cornerstone of coronary artery disease (CAD) treatment which can enhance EPCs proliferation and migration. This study aims to analyze the effect of the hUCB-MSC-derived secretome and its combination with atorvastatin toward EPCs proliferation and migration. Methods: EPCs were isolated from a CAD patient's peripheral blood. Cultured EPCs were divided into a control group and treatment group of 2.5 µM atorvastatin, hUCB-MSC-derived secretome (2%, 10%, and 20% concentration) and its combination. EPCs proliferation was evaluated using an MTT cell proliferation assay, and EPC migration was evaluated using a Transwell migration assay kit. Results: This research showed that hUCB-MSC-derived secretomes significantly increase EPC proliferation and migration in a dose-dependent manner. The high concentration of hUCB-MSC-derived secretome were shown to be superior to atorvastatin in inducing EPC proliferation and migration (p<0.001). A combination of the hUCB-MSC-derived secretome and atorvastatin shown to improve EPCs proliferation and migration compared to hUCB-MSC-derived secretome treatment or atorvastatin alone (p<0.001). Conclusions: This study concluded that the hUCB-MSC-derived secretome work synergistically with atorvastatin treatment in improving EPCs proliferation and migration.

Human umbilical cord blood-mesenchymal stem cell-derived secretome in combination with atorvastatin enhances endothelial progenitor cells proliferation and migration

Background: Human umbilical cord blood-mesenchymal stem cell (hUCB-MSC)-derived secretome is known to be able to promote neovascularization and angiogenesis, so it is also thought to have a capability to modulate endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) functions. Atorvastatin is the cornerstone of coronary artery disease (CAD) treatment which can enhance EPCs proliferation and migration. This study aims to analyze the effect of the hUCB-MSC-derived secretome and its combination with atorvastatin toward EPCs proliferation and migration. Methods: EPCs were isolated from a CAD patient's peripheral blood. Cultured EPCs were divided into a control group and treatment group of 2.5 µM atorvastatin, hUCB-MSC-derived secretome (2%, 10%, and 20% concentration) and its combination. EPCs proliferation was evaluated using an MTT cell proliferation assay, and EPC migration was evaluated using a Transwell migration assay kit. Results: This research showed that hUCB-MSC-derived secretomes significantly increase EPC proliferation and migration in a dose-dependent manner. The high concentration of hUCB-MSC-derived secretome were shown to be superior to atorvastatin in inducing EPC proliferation and migration (p<0.001). A combination of the hUCB-MSC-derived secretome and atorvastatin shown to improve EPCs proliferation and migration compared to hUCB-MSC-derived secretome treatment or atorvastatin alone (p<0.001). Conclusions: This study concluded that the hUCB-MSC-derived secretome work synergistically with atorvastatin treatment in improving EPCs proliferation and migration.

Preliminary Study: Purple Sweet Potato Extract Seems to Be Superior to Increase the Migration of Impaired Endothelial Progenitor Cells Compared to l-Ascorbic Acid

Impairment of the endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) ability to proliferate and migrate in the patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) is partly caused by oxidative stress. This research evaluates the effect of treatment with Ipomoea batatas L./purple sweet potato (PSP) extract and l-ascorbic acid on the proliferation and migration of impaired EPCs. EPCs were isolated from CHD patient’s peripheral blood. EPCs culture were cultivated and divided into control (untreated), PSP extract treatment (dose 1 and 25 μg/mL), and l-ascorbic acid treatment (dose 10 and 250 μg/mL) groups for 48 h. EPCs proliferation was analyzed with the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) cell proliferation assay, and migration was evaluated with the cell migration assay kit. Statistical tests were evaluated using SPSS 25.0. This research showed that EPCs proliferation and migration was significantly higher in all PSP extract and l-ascorbic acid treatment compared to the control (p < 0.001). EPCs migration on treatment with a PSP extract dose of 25 μg/mL was significantly higher compared to the treatment with l-ascorbic acid dose of 250 μg/mL (303,000 ± 1000 compared to 215,000 ± 3000 cells, p< 0.001). In conclusion, both treatments with PSP extract and l-ascorbic acid can improve the proliferation and migration of impaired EPCs. At the dose of 25 μg/mL, PSP extract seems to be superior to the l-ascorbic acid dose of 250 μg/mL to improve EPCs migration.

Calcitonin gene-related peptide promotes proliferation and inhibits apoptosis in endothelial progenitor cells via inhibiting MAPK signaling

Background

Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) contributes to bone formation by stimulating bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC) proliferation and differentiation. However, the proliferative and apoptotic effects of CGRP on bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have not been investigated.

Methods

We tested the effects of CGRP on EPC proliferation and apoptosis by Cell Counting Kit-8, flow cytometry, and studied the effects of CGRP on the expression of proliferation- and apoptosis-related markers in EPCs and the underlying mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling pathway by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting.

Results

We detected EPC markers (CD34, CD133 and VEGFR-2) in 7-day cultures and found that CGRP (10^− 10–10^− 12 M) promoted the proliferation of cultured EPCs, with a peak increase of 30% at 10^− 10 M CGRP. CGRP also upregulated the expression of proliferation-associated genes, including cyclin D1 and cyclin E, and increased the percentages of G2/M-phase and S-phase cells after incubation 72 h. CGRP inhibited serum deprivation (SD)-induced apoptosis in EPCs after 24 and 48 h and downregulated the expression of apoptosis-related genes, including caspase-3, caspase-8, caspase-9 and Bax. Phosphorylated (p-)ERK1/2, p-p38 and p-JNK protein levels in EPCs treated with CGRP were significantly lower than those in untreated EPCs. Pre-treatment with the calcitonin receptor-like receptor (CRLR) antagonist CGRP8–37 or a MAPK pathway inhibitor (PD98059, SB203580 or SP600125) completely or partially reversed the pro-proliferative and anti-apoptotic effects and the reduced p-ERK1/2, p-p38 and p-JNK expression induced by CGRP.

Conclusion

Our results show that CGRP exerts pro-proliferative and anti-apoptotic effects on EPCs and may act by inhibiting MAPK pathways.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12953-018-0146-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Human cytomegalovirus-encoded miR-UL112 contributes to HCMV-mediated vascular diseases by inducing vascular endothelial cell dysfunction

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection has been linked to the pathogenesis of vasculopathy by inducing dysfunction of vascular cells such as endothelial cells. Hcmv-miR-UL112 is the most well-characterized HCMV-encoded microRNA occurring in the plasma of patients with cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, while the specific underlying pathophysiological mechanisms are yet to be defined. The current study investigated the effect of hcmv-miR-UL112 on the growth and proliferation of human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs); it might also be associated with signaling pathways. An adenovirus vector was designed and synthesized to stably express hcmv-miR-UL112 in HUVECs. Cell Counting Kit-8 results showed that ectopically expressed hcmv-miR-UL112 can significantly increase the proliferation of HUVECs (p < 0.05). Flow cytometry revealed that the S-phase fraction in the cell cycle analysis was raised significantly after overexpression of hcmv-miR-UL112 (p < 0.05). Gene expression profile analysis, using the microarray technology, revealed 303 up-regulated and 62 down-regulated genes in HUVECs by comparing the AD-hcmv-miR-UL112-infected and control groups (p < 0.05 and > 2 fold change). Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes and Reactome Pathway, chosen as the functional annotation categories, were affected by hcmv-miR-UL112 adenovirus vector. The significantly altered pathways mainly include the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway, cell adhesion molecules, chemokine signaling pathway, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, circadian rhythm-mammal, mineral absorption, protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum, proximal tubule bicarbonate reclamation, vasopressin-regulated water reabsorption, and arachidonic acid metabolism. In conclusion, hcmv-miR-UL112 could serve as a potential biomarker, and the miRNA-mediated regulation of signaling pathways might play significant roles in the physiological effects of hcmv-associated diseases.

Vascular precursor cells in tissue injury repair

Vascular precursor cells include stem cells and progenitor cells giving rise to all mature cell types in the wall of blood vessels. When tissue injury occurs, local hypoxia and inflammation result in the generation of vasculogenic mediators which orchestrate migration of vascular precursor cells from their niche environment to the site of tissue injury. The intricate crosstalk among signaling pathways coordinates vascular precursor cell proliferation and differentiation during neovascularization. Establishment of normal blood perfusion plays an essential role in the effective repair of the injured tissue. In recent years, studies on molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of vascular precursor cell function have achieved substantial progress, which promotes exploration of vascular precursor cell-based approaches to treat chronic wounds and ischemic diseases in vital organ systems. Verification of safety and establishment of specific guidelines for the clinical application of vascular precursor cell-based therapy remain major challenges in the field.

Progenitor Cells for Arterial Repair: Incremental Advancements towards Therapeutic Reality

Coronary revascularization remains the standard treatment for obstructive coronary artery disease and can be accomplished by either percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Considerable advances have rendered PCI the most common form of revascularization and improved clinical outcomes. However, numerous challenges to modern PCI remain, namely, in-stent restenosis and stent thrombosis, underscoring the importance of understanding the vessel wall response to injury to identify targets for intervention. Among recent promising discoveries, endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have garnered considerable interest given an increasing appreciation of their role in vascular homeostasis and their ability to promote vascular repair after stent placement. Circulating EPC numbers have been inversely correlated with cardiovascular risk, while administration of EPCs in humans has demonstrated improved clinical outcomes. Despite these encouraging results, however, advancing EPCs as a therapeutic modality has been hampered by a fundamental roadblock: what constitutes an EPC? We review current definitions and sources of EPCs as well as the proposed mechanisms of EPC-mediated vascular repair. Additionally, we discuss the current state of EPCs as therapeutic agents, focusing on endogenous augmentation and transplantation.

High-Throughput Screening Identifies miR-451 as a Pleiotropic Modulator That Suppresses Gastric Cancer Metastasis

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are globally dysregulated in human carcinomas. However, the specific miRNAs that mediate gastric cancer metastasis have not been identified. We identified 100 miRNAs that are dysregulated in gastric cancer and used a self-assembled cell microarray method to systematically evaluate their capacity to regulate cell migration. MiR-451, which is down-regulated in human gastric cancer samples, potently modulated multiple metastatic phenotypes including cell migration, invasion, proliferation, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. These effects were achieved via down-regulation of the miR-451 target gene, ERK2. These findings provide new insight into the physiological effects of and potential therapeutic uses for miRNAs in gastric cancer.