Circulating factors present in the sera of naturally skinny people may influence cell commitment and adipocyte differentiation of mesenchymal stromal cells

Senescence induces fundamental changes in the secretome of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs): implications for the therapeutic use of MSCs and their derivates

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are a heterogeneous population containing multipotent adult stem cells with a multi-lineage differentiation capacity, which differentiated into mesodermal derivatives. MSCs are employed for therapeutic purposes and several investigations have demonstrated that the positive effects of MSC transplants are due to the capacity of MSCs to modulate tissue homeostasis and repair via the activity of their secretome. Indeed, the MSC-derived secretomes are now an alternative strategy to cell transplantation due to their anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and regenerative effects. The cellular senescence is a dynamic process that leads to permanent cell cycle arrest, loss of healthy cells' physiological functions and acquiring new activities, which are mainly accrued through the release of many factors, indicated as senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). The senescence occurring in stem cells, such as those present in MSCs, may have detrimental effects on health since it can undermine tissue homeostasis and repair. The analysis of MSC secretome is important either for the MSC transplants and for the therapeutic use of secretome. Indeed, the secretome of MSCs, which is the main mechanism of their therapeutic activity, loses its beneficial functions and acquire negative pro-inflammatory and pro-aging activities when MSCs become senescent. When MSCs or their derivatives are planned to be used for therapeutic purposes, great attention must be paid to these changes. In this review, we analyzed changes occurring in MSC secretome following the switch from healthy to senescence status.

Metformin promotes angiogenesis by enhancing VEGFa secretion by adipose-derived stem cells via the autophagy pathway

Human adipose tissue-derived stem cell (ADSC) derivatives are cell-free, with low immunogenicity and no potential tumourigenicity, making them ideal for aiding wound healing. However, variable quality has impeded their clinical application. Metformin (MET) is a 5' adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase activator associated with autophagic activation. In this study, we assessed the potential applicability and underlying mechanisms of MET-treated ADSC derivatives in enhancing angiogenesis. We employed various scientific techniques to evaluate the influence of MET on ADSC, assess angiogenesis and autophagy in MET-treated ADSC in vitro, and examine whether MET-treated ADSC increase angiogenesis. We found that low MET concentrations exerted no appreciable effect on ADSC proliferation. However, MET was observed to enhance the angiogenic capacity and autophagy of ADSC. MET-induced autophagy was associated with increased vascular endothelial growth factor A production and release, which contributed to promoting the therapeutic efficacy of ADSC. In vivo experiments confirmed that in contrast to untreated ADSC, MET-treated ADSC promoted angiogenesis. Our findings thus indicate that the application of MET-treated ADSC would be an effective approach to accelerate wound healing by promoting angiogenesis at wound sites.

Ten things to know about ten cardiovascular disease risk factors - 2022

The American Society for Preventive Cardiology (ASPC) "Ten things to know about ten cardiovascular disease risk factors - 2022" is a summary document regarding cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. This 2022 update provides summary tables of ten things to know about 10 CVD risk factors and builds upon the foundation of prior annual versions of "Ten things to know about ten cardiovascular disease risk factors" published since 2020. This 2022 version provides the perspective of ASPC members and includes updated sentinel references (i.e., applicable guidelines and select reviews) for each CVD risk factor section. The ten CVD risk factors include unhealthful dietary intake, physical inactivity, dyslipidemia, pre-diabetes/diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, considerations of select populations (older age, race/ethnicity, and sex differences), thrombosis (with smoking as a potential contributor to thrombosis), kidney dysfunction and genetics/familial hypercholesterolemia. Other CVD risk factors may be relevant, beyond the CVD risk factors discussed here. However, it is the intent of the ASPC "Ten things to know about ten cardiovascular disease risk factors - 2022" to provide a tabular overview of things to know about ten of the most common CVD risk factors applicable to preventive cardiology and provide ready access to applicable guidelines and sentinel reviews.

Skinny people serum factors promote the differentiation of multipotent stem cells into brown adipose tissue

The original study by Alessio et al reported that skinny people (SP) serum can promote the formation of brown adipocytes, but not the differentiation of white adipocytes. This finding may explain why SP do not often become obese, despite consuming more calories than the body needs. More importantly, they demonstrated that circulating factors in SP serum can promote the expression of UCP-1 protein, thereby reducing fat accumulation. In this study, only male serum samples were evaluated to avoid the interference of sex hormones in experiments, but adult males also synthesize estrogen, which is produced by the cells of the testes. At the same time, adult females secrete androgens, and females synthesize androgens that are mainly produced by the adrenal cortex. We believe that the approach of excluding sex hormone interference by sex selection alone may be flawed, so we comment on the article and debate the statistical analysis of the article.

Obesity history, physical exam, laboratory, body composition, and energy expenditure: An Obesity Medicine Association (OMA) Clinical Practice Statement (CPS) 2022

Background

This Obesity Medicine Association (OMA) Clinical Practice Statement (CPS) on History, Physical Exam, Body Composition and Energy Expenditure is intended to provide clinicians an overview of the clinical and diagnostic evaluation of patients with pre-obesity/obesity.

Methods

The scientific information for this CPS is based upon published scientific citations, clinical perspectives of OMA authors, and peer review by the Obesity Medicine Association leadership.

Results

This CPS outlines important components of medical, dietary, and physical activity history as well as physical exams, with a focus on specific aspects unique to managing patients with pre-obesity or obesity. Patients with pre-obesity/obesity benefit from the same preventive care and general laboratory testing as those without an increase in body fat. In addition, patients with pre-obesity/obesity may benefit from adiposity-specific diagnostic testing - both generally and individually - according to patient presentation and clinical judgment. Body composition testing, such as dual energy x-ray absorptiometry, bioelectrical impedance, and other measures, each have their own advantages and disadvantages. Some patients in clinical research, and perhaps even clinical practice, may benefit from an assessment of energy expenditure. This can be achieved by several methods including direct calorimetry, indirect calorimetry, doubly labeled water, or estimated by equations. Finally, a unifying theme regarding the etiology of pre-obesity/obesity and effectiveness of treatments of obesity centers on the role of biologic and behavior efficiencies and inefficiencies, with efficiencies more often associated with increases in fat mass and inefficiencies more often associated with decreases in fat mass.

Conclusion

The Obesity Medicine Association (OMA) Clinical Practice Statement (CPS) on History, Physical Exam, Body Composition and Energy Expenditure is one of a series of OMA CPSs designed to assist clinicians in the care of patients with the disease of pre-obesity/obesity.

Nutrition and physical activity: An Obesity Medicine Association (OMA) Clinical Practice Statement 2022

Background

This Obesity Medicine Association (OMA) Clinical Practice Statement (CPS) on Nutrition and Physical Activity provides clinicians an overview of nutrition and physical activity principles applicable to the care of patients with increased body fat, especially those with adverse fat mass and adiposopathic metabolic consequences.

Methods

The scientific information and clinical guidance is based upon referenced evidence and derived from the clinical perspectives of the authors.

Results

This OMA CPS on Nutrition and Physical Activity provides basic clinical information regarding carbohydrates, proteins, fats (including trans fats, saturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and monounsaturated fats), general principles of healthful nutrition, nutritional factors associated with improved health outcomes, and food labels. Included are the clinical implications of isocaloric substitution of refined carbohydrates with saturated fats and vice-versa, as well as definitions of low-calorie, very low-calorie, carbohydrate-restricted, and fat-restricted dietary intakes. Specific dietary plans discussed include carbohydrate-restricted diets, fat-restricted diets, very low-calorie diets, the Mediterranean diet, Therapeutic Lifestyle diet, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), ketogenic (modified Atkins) diet, Ornish diet, Paleo diet, vegetarian or vegan diet (whole food/plant-based), intermittent fasting/time restricted feeding, and commercial diet programs. This clinical practice statement also examines the health benefits of physical activity and provides practical pre-exercise medical evaluation guidance as well as suggestions regarding types and recommended amounts of dynamic (aerobic) training, resistance (anaerobic) training, leisure time physical activity, and non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). Additional guidance is provided regarding muscle physiology, exercise prescription, metabolic equivalent tasks (METS), and methods to track physical activity progress.

Conclusion

This Obesity Medicine Association Clinical Practice Statement on Nutrition and Physical Activity provides clinicians an overview of nutrition and physical activity. Implementation of appropriate nutrition and physical activity in patients with pre-obesity and/or obesity may improve the health of patients, especially those with adverse fat mass and adiposopathic metabolic consequences.

Metformin enhances the osteogenesis and angiogenesis of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells for tissue regeneration engineering

Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) are a potential clinical material in regenerative medicine applications. Metformin has shown safety and effectiveness as a clinical drug. However, the effect of metformin as a treatment on hUC-MSCs is unclear. Our research aimed to explore the effects of metformin on the osteogenesis, adipogenesis and angiogenesis of hUC-MSCs, and attempted to explain the molecular fluctuations of metformin through the mapping of protein profiles. Proliferation assay, osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation induction, cell cycle, flow cytometry, quantitative proteomics techniques and bioinformatics analysis were used to detect the influences of metformin treatment on hUC-MSCs. Our results demonstrated that low concentrations of metformin promoted the proliferation of hUC-MSCs, but high concentrations of metformin inhibited it. Metformin exhibited promotion of osteogenesis but inhibition of adipogenesis. Metformin treated hUC-MSCs up-regulated the expression of osteogenic marker ALP, OCN and RUNX2, but down-regulated the expression of adipogenic markers PPARγ and LPL. Proteomics analysis found that up-regulation of differentially expressed proteins in metformin treatment group involved the biological process of cell migration in Gene Ontology analysis. Metformin enhanced cell migration of HUVEC in a co-culture system, and hUC-MSCs treated with metformin exhibited stronger angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo compared to the hUC-MSCs group. The results of RT-qPCR revealed that the SCF and VEGFR2 were raised in metformin treatment. This study can promote the application of hUC-MSCs treated with metformin to tissue engineering for vascular reconstruction and angiogenesis.

Transcriptional Factors of Thermogenic Adipocyte Development and Generation of Brown and Beige Adipocytes From Stem Cells

Brown and beige adipocytes have been widely known for their potential to dissipate excessive energy into heat form, resulting in an alleviation of obesity and other overweight-related conditions. This review highlights the origins, characteristics, and functions of the various kinds of adipocytes, as well as their anatomic distribution inside the human body. This review mainly focuses on various essential transcriptional factors such as PRDM16, FGF21, PPARα, PPARγ and PGC-1α, which exert their effects on the development and activation of thermogenic adipocytes via important pathways such as JAK-STAT, cAMP-PKA and PI3K-AKT signaling pathways. Additionally, this review will underline promising strategies to generate an unexhausted source of thermogenic adipocytes differentiated from human stem cells. These exogenous thermogenic adipocytes offer therapeutic potential for improvement of metabolic disorders via application as single cell or whole tissue transplantation. Graphical abstract Caption is required. Please provide.

Ten things to know about ten cardiovascular disease risk factors

Given rapid advancements in medical science, it is often challenging for the busy clinician to remain up-to-date on the fundamental and multifaceted aspects of preventive cardiology and maintain awareness of the latest guidelines applicable to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. The “American Society for Preventive Cardiology (ASPC) Top Ten CVD Risk Factors 2021 Update” is a summary document (updated yearly) regarding CVD risk factors. This “ASPC Top Ten CVD Risk Factors 2021 Update” summary document reflects the perspective of the section authors regarding ten things to know about ten sentinel CVD risk factors. It also includes quick access to sentinel references (applicable guidelines and select reviews) for each CVD risk factor section. The ten CVD risk factors include unhealthful nutrition, physical inactivity, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, high blood pressure, obesity, considerations of select populations (older age, race/ethnicity, and sex differences), thrombosis/smoking, kidney dysfunction and genetics/familial hypercholesterolemia. For the individual patient, other CVD risk factors may be relevant, beyond the CVD risk factors discussed here. However, it is the intent of the “ASPC Top Ten CVD Risk Factors 2021 Update” to provide a succinct overview of things to know about ten common CVD risk factors applicable to preventive cardiology.

Therapeutic applications of adipose cell-free derivatives: a review

BACKGROUND

Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) have become one of the most utilized adult stem cells due to their abundance and accessibility. Recent studies have shown that paracrine cytokines, exosomes, and other active substances are the main factors through which ADSCs exert their biological effects.

MAIN BODY

Adipose cell-free derivatives have been recently gaining attention as potential therapeutic agents for various human diseases. These derivatives include ADSC-conditioned medium (ADSC-CM), ADSC exosomes (ADSC-Exo), and cell-free adipose tissue extracts (ATEs), all of which can be conveniently carried, stored, and transported. Currently, research on ADSC-conditioned medium (ADSC-CM) and ADSC exosomes (ADSC-Exo) is surging. Moreover, cell-free adipose tissue extracts (ATEs), obtained by purely physical methods, have emerged as the focus of research in recent years.

CONCLUSION

Adipose cell-free derivatives delivery can promote cell proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis, suppress cell apoptosis, and inflammation, as well as reduce oxidative stress and immune regulation. Thus, adipose cell-free derivatives have a broad therapeutic potential in many areas, as they possess anti-skin aging properties, promote wound healing, reduce scar formation, and provide myocardial protection and neuroprotection. This article summarizes these effects and reviews research progress in the use of adipose cell-free derivatives.