Mesenchymal stem cells pretreated with interferon-gamma attenuate renal fibrosis by enhancing regulatory T cell induction

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) exert their anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects by secreting various humoral factors. Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) can enhance these effects of MSCs, and enhancement of regulatory T (Treg) cell induction is thought to be an underlying mechanism. However, the extent to which Treg cell induction by MSCs pretreated with IFN-γ (IFN-γ MSCs) ameliorates renal fibrosis remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the effects of Treg cell induction by IFN-γ MSCs on renal inflammation and fibrosis using an siRNA knockdown system. Administration of IFN-γ MSCs induced Treg cells and inhibited infiltration of inflammatory cells in ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) rats more drastically than control MSCs without IFN-γ pretreatment. In addition, administration of IFN-γ MSCs more significantly attenuated renal fibrosis compared with control MSCs. Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) expression levels in conditioned medium from MSCs were enhanced by IFN-γ pretreatment. Moreover, IDO1 knockdown in IFN-γ MSCs reduced their anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects in IRI rats by reducing Treg cell induction. Our findings suggest that the increase of Treg cells induced by enhanced secretion of IDO by IFN-γ MSCs played a pivotal role in their anti-fibrotic effects. Administration of IFN-γ MSCs may potentially be a useful therapy to prevent renal fibrosis progression.

Discriminant Analysis Using Gabor Filter Sets for Lobular Endocervical Glandular Hyperplasia: Numerical Interpretation of Nuclear Atypia by Gabor Filter Features

INTRODUCTION

Lobular endocervical glandular hyperplasia (LEGH) is a benign lesion; however, it is considered to be the origin of gastric-type adenocarcinoma in the uterine cervix, and early diagnosis is important. At Shinshu University Hospital, screening of LEGH cells is based on the difference in color tone of cytoplasmic mucin on Papanicolaou staining and detection of gastric mucin using HIK1083-labeled latex agglutination assay. However, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish LEGH cells with subtle nuclear atypia from endocervical (EC) cells.

METHODS

We calculated the Gabor filter features (mean signal value, standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis) from the nuclei of cytological specimens in EC cells (37 cases) and LEGH cells (33 cases) using microscopic images, and we performed statistical analysis and discriminant analysis by linear support vector machine (LSVM) using these features. A Gabor filter is a linear filter defined as a mathematical representation of the mammalian visual system. Gabor filters with three wavelengths and eight angles were used for analysis.

RESULTS

Gabor filter features in EC cells were higher than in LEGH cells, demonstrating that the gradient of LEGH cell nuclei was milder than that of EC cell nuclei. The accuracy calculated using all Gabor filters was 91.0% and the accuracy of four Gabor filters (λ = 2/3π and θ = 0°, 45°, 90°, 135°) was 88.9%. High accuracy with low computation costs was achieved by reducing the number of features used for LSVM.

CONCLUSION

The application of a Gabor filter with convolutional processing resulted in the edges of LEGH cells being slightly rough and thick, whereas those of EC cells were fine and thin. Thus, it is thought that the frequency of abrupt gradients of pixels was higher in EC cells than in LEGH cells, and the gradient of chromatin distribution in LEGH cell nuclei was milder than that in EC cell nuclei. It was possible to evaluate nuclear findings of EC and LEGH cells objectively by quantifying morphological features of nuclei using Gabor filters. It was possible to differentiate EC cells from LEGH cells using LSVM using Gabor filter features.

ARL4C is associated with epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND

ADP-ribosylation factor-like protein 4 C (ARL4C) is a member of the ARF small GTP-binding protein subfamily. The ARL4C gene is highly expressed in colorectal cancer (CRC). ARL4C protein promotes cell motility, invasion, and proliferation.

METHODS

We investigated the characteristics of ARL4C by comparing its expression at the invasion front and relationships with clinicopathological data using RNAscope, a highly sensitive RNA in situ method.

RESULTS

In all cases, ARL4C expression was observed in cancer stromal cells and cancer cells. ARL4C expression in cancer cells was localized at the invasion front. In cancer stromal cells, ARL4C expression was significantly stronger in cases with high-grade tumor budding than in cases with low-grade tumor budding (P = 0.0002). Additionally, ARL4C expression was significantly increased in patients with high histological grade compared with those with low histological grade (P = 0.0227). Furthermore, ARL4C expression was significantly stronger in lesions with the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotype compared with the non-EMT phenotype (P = 0.0289). In CRC cells, ARL4C expression was significantly stronger in cells that had the EMT phenotype compared with those with a non-EMT phenotype (P = 0.0366). ARL4C expression was significantly higher in cancer stromal cells than in CRC cells (P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

Our analysis reinforces the possibility that ARL4C expression worsens the prognosis of patients with CRC. Further elucidation of the function of ARL4C is desired.

Basophil activation test for allergic and febrile non-haemolytic transfusion reactions among paediatric patients with haematological or oncological disease

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Allergic transfusion reactions (ATRs) and febrile non-haemolytic transfusion reactions (FNHTRs) are common, although their mechanisms remain unclear. Immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated type I hypersensitivity may be involved in the pathogenesis of ATR. A basophil activation test (BAT) may help elucidate this process.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The BAT was based on peripheral blood samples from paediatric patients with a haematological or oncological disease and on samples of residual blood products transfused in each case. Dasatinib was used to evaluate whether basophil activation was mediated by an IgE-dependent pathway.

RESULTS

Twenty-seven patients with and 19 patients without ATR/FNHTR were included in this study, respectively. The median BAT values associated with ATR- (n = 41) and FNHTR-causing (n = 5) blood products were 22.1% (range = 6.1%-77.0%) and 27.8% (range = 15.2%-47.8%), respectively, which were higher than the median value of 8.5% (range = 1.1%-40.9%) observed in blood products without a transfusion reaction. Dasatinib suppressed basophil activity. BAT values were comparable in patients with ATR regardless of severity. Meanwhile, BAT values analysed with blood products non-causal for ATR/FNHTR were higher in patients with ATR/FNHTR than in those without.

CONCLUSION

The IgE-mediated type I hypersensitivity may be involved in the pathogenesis of ATR and FNHTR. BAT analyses may help elucidate the underlying mechanisms and identify patients at risk.

Serum-free medium and hypoxic preconditioning synergistically enhance the therapeutic effects of mesenchymal stem cells on experimental renal fibrosis

Background

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) repair injured tissue in a paracrine manner. To enhance their therapeutic properties, preconditioning with various factors has been researched. We have previously showed that MSCs cultured in serum-free medium (SF-MSCs) promote their immunosuppressive ability, thereby enhancing their anti-fibrotic effect. Here, we examined whether serum-free medium and hypoxic preconditioning synergistically enhance the therapeutic effects of MSCs on renal fibrosis in rats with ischemia–reperfusion injury (IRI).

Methods

SF-MSCs were incubated under 1% O₂ conditions (hypo-SF-MSCs) or 21% O₂ conditions (normo-SF-MSCs) for 24 h before collection. After IRI procedure, hypo-SF-MSCs or normo-SF-MSCs were injected through the abdominal aorta. At 7 or 21 days post-injection, the rats were killed and their kidneys were collected to evaluate inflammation and fibrosis. In in vitro experiments, we investigated whether hypo-SF-MSCs enhanced secretion of anti-fibrotic humoral factors using transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1-stimulated HK-2 cells incubated with conditioned medium from hypo-SF-MSCs or normo-SF-MSCs.

Results

Normo-SF-MSCs showed attenuation of senescence, which increased their proliferative capacity. Although no significant difference in cellular senescence was found between normo-SF-MSCs and hypo-SF-MSCs, hypo-SF-MSCs further increased their proliferative capacity compared with normo-SF-MSCs. Additionally, administration of hypo-SF-MSCs more strongly ameliorated renal fibrosis than that of normo-SF-MSCs. Moreover, although hypo-SF-MSCs strongly attenuated infiltration of inflammatory cells compared with the control rats, which were treated with PBS, this attenuation was almost equal between normo-SF-MSCs and hypo-SF-MSCs. In vitro experiments revealed that hypo-SF-MSCs more significantly inhibited transforming growth factor (TGF)-β/Smad signaling compared with normo-SF-MSCs. Moreover, hypoxic preconditioning increased hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) secretion even under serum-free conditions, whereas knockdown of HGF in hypo-SF-MSCs attenuated inhibition of TGF-β/Smad signaling.

Conclusions

These results indicate that administration of ex vivo-expanded, hypoxia-preconditioned SF-MSCs may be a useful cell therapy to prevent renal fibrosis.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13287-021-02548-7.

Cerebral Oxygenation Dynamics During Incremental Exercise: Comparison of Arm Cranking and Leg Cycling

This study aimed to compare cerebral oxyhemoglobin (O₂Hb) levels during incremental exercise by cycling vs. arm cranking in 12 healthy adult men aged 20.8 ± 0.2 years old. O₂Hb was measured by near-infrared spectroscopy. Regions of interest included the left and right prefrontal cortices (LtPFC and RtPFC, respectively), the left and right premotor cortices (LtPMC and RtPMC, respectively), and the supplementary motor area (SMA) bilaterally. After 4 min of rest, 4 min of warm-up was performed by using ergometer followed by incremental exercise (increasing work rate by 5 W/min for arm cranking and 20 W/min for cycling exercise). All values were averaged every tenth of the participant's exercise time period from beginning of incremental exercise to end point. At the middle exercise intensity (50% exercise time), the averaged O₂Hb values obtained at all regions of interest seemed to be higher during arm cranking exercise as compared to cycling; however, there were no significant differences between two types of exercise. At the end point of incremental exercise (100% exercise time), the O₂Hb obtained at all regions of interest was significantly higher during arm cranking exercise compared to cycling (LtPFC 0.081 ± 0.019 vs. -0.001 ± 0.013 mM·cm, RtPFC 0.076 ± 0.021 vs. 0.018 ± 0.015 mM·cm, SMA 0.012 ± 0.040 vs. 0.040 ± 0.016 mM·cm; arm cranking vs. cycling; p < 0.05, respectively). We conclude that exercise-induced cerebral oxygenation is greater with arm cranking than with leg cycling.

Discriminant analysis and interpretation of nuclear chromatin distribution and coarseness using gray-level co-occurrence matrix features for lobular endocervical glandular hyperplasia

BACKGROUND

Lobular endocervical glandular hyperplasia (LEGH) is a disease considered to be the origin of tumorigenesis of minimal deviation adenocarcinoma, which has characteristic expression in the gastric pyloric mucosa. It is difficult to diagnose by nuclear findings because of lower nuclear atypia. In this study, nuclei of endocervical (EC) and LEGH cells were digitized, and nuclear information was quantified from nuclear images and objectively evaluated using a computer. We examined whether it is possible to distinguish between EC and LEGH cells, which is difficult by human eyes.

METHODS

Signal intensity, morphological features, Otsu thresholding technique and gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) features were calculated from nuclei of EC and LEGH cells on cytology microscopic images. Then, discriminant analysis was performed using the significant difference test and linear support vector machine (LSVM).

RESULTS

GLCM features in LEGH cells were higher than those in EC cells. The nuclei of LEGH cells had a higher frequency of signal value pairs with a larger signal value difference than that of EC cells. Therefore, LEGH cell nuclei are thought to have more chromatin granules, and the chromatin is coarse and granular. Moreover, in the LSVM discriminant analysis, the accuracy of GLCM calculated using these features was 85.4%.

CONCLUSION

In this study, GLCM accurately demonstrated the nuclear chromatin distribution and coarseness. Discriminant analysis of EC and LEGH cells using GLCM features is useful.

Hypoxia-preconditioned mesenchymal stem cells prevent renal fibrosis and inflammation in ischemia-reperfusion rats

Background

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been reported to promote the regeneration of injured tissue via their paracrine abilities, which are enhanced by hypoxic preconditioning. In this study, we examined the therapeutic efficacy of hypoxia-preconditioned MSCs on renal fibrosis and inflammation in rats with ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI).

Methods

MSCs derived from rats and humans were incubated in 1% O₂ conditions (1%O₂ MSCs) for 24 h. After IRI, 1%O₂ MSCs or MSCs cultured under normoxic conditions (21%O₂ MSCs) were injected through the abdominal aorta. At 7 or 21 days post-injection, the rats were sacrificed and their kidneys were analyzed. In in vitro experiments, we examined whether 1%O₂ MSCs enhanced the ability to produce anti-fibrotic humoral factors using transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1-stimulated HK-2 cells incubated with conditioned medium from MSCs.

Results

Administration of rat 1%O₂ MSCs (1%O₂ rMSCs) attenuated renal fibrosis and inflammation more significantly than rat 21%O₂ MSCs. Notably, human 1%O₂ MSCs (1%O₂ hMSCs) also attenuated renal fibrosis to the same extent as 1%O₂ rMSCs. Flow cytometry showed that 1%O₂ hMSCs did not change human leukocyte antigen expression. Further in vitro experiments revealed that conditioned medium from 1%O₂ MSCs further suppressed TGF-β1-induced fibrotic changes in HK-2 cells compared with 21%O₂ MSCs. Hypoxic preconditioning enhanced vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) secretion. Interestingly, VEGF knockdown in 1%O₂ MSCs attenuated HGF secretion and the inhibition of TGF-β1-induced fibrotic changes in HK-2 cells. In addition, VEGF knockdown in 1%O₂ hMSCs reduced the anti-fibrotic effect in IRI rats.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that hypoxia-preconditioned MSCs are useful as an allogeneic transplantation cell therapy to prevent renal fibrosis and inflammation.

Impact of immunoreactive substances contained in apheresis platelet concentrate on postoperative respiratory function in surgical patients receiving platelet transfusion: a prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES

To construct an alternative policy for the donor selection of platelet concentrate (PC), a clinical study exploring the features of lung injury following PC administration is needed.

BACKGROUND

Although a male-donor-only policy for plasma products appears to have efficiently reduced transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI), this policy may not be applied to PC because of supply shortages.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

We prospectively examined pulmonary function after the transfusion of PC in informed surgical patients treated at a tertiary university hospital in Japan. The contributions of immunoreactive substances contained in the PC to respiratory function after PC transfusion was then statistically examined.

RESULTS

Eighty-six patients (56 men, 30 women) were enrolled in the analysis. Fifty-four cases experienced respiratory failure (PaO2 /FiO2 <300 mmHg) after transfusion. Five cases were diagnosed as possible TRALI based on permeability pulmonary oedema, while 23 cases were diagnosed as transfusion-associated circulatory overload (TACO) based on chest radiograph findings. A multivariate logistic regression analysis identified the presence of anti-granulocyte antibody as a significant predictor of possible TRALI [P = 0.023; odds ratio (OR), 13.0; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.4-118.3]. Meanwhile, anti-leukocyte antibody class II was identified as a significant independent predictor of TACO (P = 0.010; OR, 18.4; 95% CI, 2.0-170.1).

CONCLUSIONS

Our data suggest that antibodies contained in PC may contribute to the deterioration of respiratory function after PC transfusion, although the diagnoses of TACO and TRALI may have overlapped among the patients with pulmonary distress in this cohort.

Online social network size is reflected in human brain structure

The increasing ubiquity of web-based social networking services is a striking feature of modern human society. The degree to which individuals participate in these networks varies substantially for reasons that are unclear. Here, we show a biological basis for such variability by demonstrating that quantitative variation in the number of friends an individual declares on a web-based social networking service reliably predicted grey matter density in the right superior temporal sulcus, left middle temporal gyrus and entorhinal cortex. Such regions have been previously implicated in social perception and associative memory, respectively. We further show that variability in the size of such online friendship networks was significantly correlated with the size of more intimate real-world social groups. However, the brain regions we identified were specifically associated with online social network size, whereas the grey matter density of the amygdala was correlated both with online and real-world social network sizes. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that the size of an individual's online social network is closely linked to focal brain structure implicated in social cognition.

Enhanced therapeutic efficacy of G207 for the treatment of glioma through Musashi1 promoter retargeting of gamma34.5-mediated virulence

G207 is a conditionally replicating derivative of herpes simplex virus type1 (HSV-1) engineered with deletions of both ICP34.5 loci and a lacZ insertion disabling the ICP6 gene. G207 exhibits an efficient oncolytic activity in vitro and in vivo, yet minimal toxicity in normal tissue, and is now in clinical trial for malignant glioma. According to the results of clinical trials, however, although G207 was proved to be safe, the efficacy was not so impressive. Deletion of the ICP34.5 gene coding for virulence made G207 extremely safe, but it markedly reduced the cytotoxicity mediated by HSV-1. To enhance the therapeutic efficacy of G207 without diminishing its safety, we used a defective vector containing Musashi1 promoter/ICP34.5, with G207 as helper virus. P/musashi1 was functional selectively in human glioma cell lines (U87MG, U251, T98G) in this study and dvM345 showed a much higher therapeutic efficacy both in culture and in the in vivo glioma model, than G207 alone, without diminishing its favorable toxicity profile. These results suggest that transcriptional regulation of ICP34.5 by P/musashi1 can be used to target HSV-1 virulence toward gliomas while maintaining the desirable neuroattenuated phenotype.