Oxidative stress and immunological biomarkers in Ankylosing spondylitis patients

Application of Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Exosome alone or Combination Therapy as a Treatment Strategy for Wound Healing

The process of wound healing consists of multiple phases, and any disruptions in these phases can lead to the wound becoming chronic and impose heavy financial and psychological costs on the patient and a huge economic burden on the country's healthcare system. Various treatments such as drugs, matrix and scaffolds, blood products, cell therapy, and a combination of these treatments are used for wound healing. The use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is one of these methods that have produced appropriate responses in the healing of patients' wounds. MSCs by secreting growth factors, cytokines, chemokines, and RNAs elicit changes in cell proliferation, migration, growth, signaling, immunomodulation, and wound re-epithelialization process, and as a result, accelerate wound closure and wound healing. These cells can be isolated from different body sources with different cell characteristics and used directly on the wound site or by injection. In addition, MSCs-derived exosomes have attracted growing attention due to circumventing concerns relating to the direct use of MSCs. To increase the performance of MSCs, they can be used together with other compounds such as platelets, matrices, or scaffolds. This study examined the functions of MSCs in wound healing, as well as the vesicles they secrete, cellular and molecular mechanisms, and combined treatments with MSCs for wound healing.

Environmental and Genetic Determinants of Ankylosing Spondylitis

Exposure to heavy metals and lifestyle factors like smoking contribute to the production of free oxygen radicals. This fact, combined with a lowered total antioxidant status, can induce even more damage in the development of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Despite the fact that some researchers are looking for more genetic factors underlying AS, most studies focus on polymorphisms within the genes encoding the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system. The biggest challenge is finding the effective treatment of the disease. Genetic factors and the influence of oxidative stress, mineral metabolism disorders, microbiota, and tobacco smoking seem to be of great importance for the development of AS. The data contained in this review constitute valuable information and encourage the initiation and development of research in this area, showing connections between inflammatory disorders leading to the pathogenesis of AS and selected environmental and genetic factors.

Platelet lysate and tendon healing: comparative analysis of autologous frozen-thawed PRP and ketorolac tromethamine in the treatment of patients with rotator cuff tendinopathy

Platelet-rich blood derivatives are being nowadays increasingly used in the treatment of tendon-related pathologies as a rich source of growth factors. We sought to ascertain if local application of platelet lysate (PL) to augment rotator cuff repair ameliorates patient outcomes compared to ketorolac tromethamine treated group. A total of forty patients, with clinical diagnosis of Rotator Cuff Tendinopathy were randomized to receive sub acromial injections of PL every week for a total of 3 injections and two injection of ketorolac tromethamine once every two weeks. Subjective assessments included VAS, SPADI and shoulder range of motion were assessed at baseline and at 1 and 6 months after injection. Taking both control and PL groups, it was vividly seen that the outcomes were identical at the initial state, as well as the short-term one; whereas, when considering the 6-month period, there is a seemingly remarkable superiority in PL group in all parameters.

The effect of osteoporotic and non-osteoporotic individuals' T cell-derived exosomes on osteoblast cells' bone remodeling related genes expression and alkaline phosphatase activity

Objectives

Osteoporosis is a common skeletal disorder attributed to age and is defined as a systematic degradation of bone mass and the microarchitecture leading to bone fractures. Exosomes have been reported in almost all biological fluids and during the failure of bone remodeling. 20 ml of blood samples were obtained from osteoporotic and non-osteoporotic postmenopausal women. After the isolation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), T cells were separated via the magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) technique. Exosomes were driven from T cells of non-osteoporotic and osteoporotic volunteers. Subsequently, normal osteoblasts were treated with obtained T cell exosomes to assess osteoblastic function and gene expression.

Results

Runx2, type I collagen, osteopontin, and osteocalcin expression decreased in osteoblasts treated by osteoporotic T cell exosomes. In contrast, an increased expression of the mentioned genes was observed following non-osteoporotic T cell exosome treatment. Additionally, osteoblast alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity treated with non-osteoporotic T cell exosomes increased. However, this activity decreased in another group. Our data demonstrated that T cell exosomes obtained from osteoporotic and non-osteoporotic individuals could alter the osteoblastic function and gene expression by affecting the genes essential for bone remodeling.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13104-022-06139-4.

MicroRNAs as Biomarkers for the Diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Abnormal expression levels of microRNAs (miRNAs) were observed in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in recent articles, suggesting that miRNAs may be used as biomarkers for AS diagnoses. In this paper, we conducted a meta-analysis to identify the overall diagnostic accuracy of miRNA biomarkers in AS patients. Methods: An extensive search was undertaken in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane databases, and Wan Fang database up to 30 December 2020 using the following key words: ("microRNAs" or "microRNA" or "miRNA" or "miR" or "RNA, Micro" or "Primary MicroRNA") and ("Spondylitis Ankylosing" or "Spondyloarthritis Ankylopoietica" or "Ankylosing Spondylarthritis" or "Ankylosing Spondylarthritides" or "Spondylarthritides Ankylosing" or "Ankylosing Spondylitis") and ("blood" or "serum" or "plasma"). Statistical evaluation of dysregulated miRNAs using the sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and the area under the curve (AUC). Results: Twenty-nine articles reporting on the miRNAs of AS were included. A total of 42 miRNAs were observed to be up-regulated and 45 miRNAs were down-regulated in the AS cases compared with the controls. Besides, 29 studies from nine articles were included in our meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, DOR, and AUC were 0. 76 (95% CI, 0.70-0.81), 0.80 (95% CI, 0.74-0.85), 3.75 (95% CI, 2.82-5.01), 0.30 (95% CI, 0.24-0.39), 12.32 (95% CI, 7.65-19.83), 0.85 (95% CI, 0.81-0.88), respectively, suggesting a good diagnostic accuracy of miRNAs for AS. Conclusions: Circulating miRNAs are deregulated in AS patients. miRNAs may be used as a relatively non-invasive biomarkers for the detection of AS.