Efficacy and safety of stem cell therapy for Crohn's disease: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

PURPOSE

Small-scale clinical trials have provided evidence suggesting the effectiveness of stem-cell therapy (SCT) for patients diagnosed with Crohn's disease (CD). The objective of the research was to systematically assess the effectiveness and safety of SCT for individuals diagnosed with CD through a comprehensive review and meta-analysis.

METHODS

A search was conducted in Medline (PubMed), CENTER (Cochrane Library), and Embase (Ovid) to find randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed the impact of SCT on the occurrence of clinical remission (CR) and severe adverse events (SAE) among patients diagnosed with CD. The Cochrane Q test and estimation of I2 were used to assess heterogeneity among studies. After incorporating heterogeneity, a random-effects model was employed for data pooling.

RESULTS

Overall, 12 RCTs involving 632 adult patients with medically refractory CD or CD-related fistula were included. In comparison with placebo or no treatment, SCT showed a greater likelihood of CR (odds ratio [OR] 2.08, 95% CI 1.39-3.12, p < 0.001) without any notable heterogeneity (I2 = 0%). Consistent results were observed in subgroup analyses based on study design, patient diagnosis, source and type of stem cells, and follow-up durations, with all p-values for subgroup analyses being greater than 0.05. The occurrence of SAE was similar among patients assigned to SCT and the placebo/no treatment cohorts (OR 0.70, 95% CI 0.37-1.33, p = 0.28; I2 = 0%).

CONCLUSIONS

For patients with medically refractory CD or CD-related fistula, SCT may be an alternatively effective and safe treatment.

Plasma exosomes improve peripheral neuropathy via miR-20b-3p/Stat3 in type I diabetic rats

BACKGROUND

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is one of the most common complications of diabetes and the main cause of non-traumatic amputation, with no ideal treatment. Multiple cell-derived exosomes have been reported to improve the progression of DPN. Blood therapy is thought to have a powerful repairing effect. However, whether it could also improve DPN remains unclear.

RESULTS

In this study, we found that microRNA (miRNA) expression in plasma-derived exosomes of healthy rats (hplasma-exos) was significantly different from that of age-matched DPN rats. By injection of hplasma-exos into DPN rats, the mechanical sensitivity of DPN rats was decreased, the thermal sensitivity and motor ability were increased, and the nerve conduction speed was accelerated. Histological analysis showed myelin regeneration of the sciatic nerve, increased intraepidermal nerve fibers, distal local blood perfusion, and enhanced neuromuscular junction and muscle spindle innervation after hplasma-exos administration. Compared with plasma exosomes in DPN, miR-20b-3p was specifically enriched in exosomes of healthy plasma and was found to be re-upregulated in the sciatic nerve of DPN rats after hplasma-exos treatment. Moreover, miR-20b-3p agomir improved DPN symptoms to a level similar to hplasma-exos, both of which also alleviated autophagy impairment induced by high glucose in Schwann cells. Mechanistic studies found that miR-20b-3p targeted Stat3 and consequently reduced the amount of p-Stat3, which then negatively regulated autophagy processes and contributed to DPN improvement.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrated that miRNA of plasma exosomes was different between DPN and age-matched healthy rats. MiR-20b-3p was enriched in hplasma-exos, and both of them could alleviated DPN symptoms. MiR-20b-3p regulated autophagy of Schwann cells in pathological states by targeting Stat3 and thereby inhibited the progression of DPN.

Downregulation of TAB182 promotes cancer stem-like cell properties and therapeutic resistance in triple-negative breast cancer cells

TAB182 participates in DNA damage repair and radio-/chemosensitivity regulation in various tumors, but its role in tumorigenesis and therapeutic resistance in breast cancer remains unclear. In the current paper, we observed that triple-negative Breast Cancer (TNBC), a highly aggressive type of breast cancer, exhibits a lower expression of TAB182. TAB182 knockdown stimulates the proliferation, migration, and invasion of TNBC cells. Our study first obtained RNA-seq data to explore the cellular functions mediated by TAB182 at the genome level in TNBC cells. A transcriptome analysis and in vitro experiments enabled us to identify that TAB182 downregulation drives the enhanced properties of cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) in TNBC cells. Furthermore, TAB182 deletion contributes to the resistance of cells to olaparib or cisplatin, which can be rescued by silencing GLI2, a gene downstream of cancer stemness-related signaling pathways. Our results reveal a novel function of TAB182 as a potential negative regulator of cancer stem-like properties and drug sensitivity in TNBC cells, suggesting that TAB182 may be a tumor suppressor gene and is associated with increased therapeutic benefits for TNBC patients.

Research progress of odontogenic extracellular vesicles in regeneration of dental pulp

It is well understood that maintaining viable pulp is critical for tooth retention. This review focused on cell-free therapy based on extracellular vesicles (EVs), a novel minimally invasive treatment strategy for endodontic restoration. This study was conducted by searching mainstream electronic databases such as Web of Science and PubMed for relevant studies on the therapeutic role of odontogenic EVs in pulp healing published in the last five years. We selected 89 relevant articles and discovered that dental stem cells (DSCs) derived EVs (DSC-EVs) have become a research hotspot in oral regenerative medicine, with significant advantages over cell transplantation in terms of low immunogenicity, ease of isolation, preservation, and management. Here, we introduce in detail the therapeutic effects of DSC-EVs for pulp restoration from three perspectives: excellent odontogenic properties, clinical applications, and possible molecular mechanisms. This article contributes a new viewpoint to the field of regenerative endodontics.

RNA binding protein: coordinated expression between the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes in tumors

Mitochondria are the only organelles regulated by two genomes. The coordinated translation of nuclear DNA (nDNA) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which together co-encode the subunits of the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) complex, is critical for determining the metabolic plasticity of tumor cells. RNA-binding protein (RBP) is a post-transcriptional regulatory factor that plays a pivotal role in determining the fate of mRNA. RBP rapidly and effectively reshapes the mitochondrial proteome in response to intracellular and extracellular stressors, mediating the cytoplasmic and mitochondrial translation balance to adjust mitochondrial respiratory capacity and provide energy for tumor cells to adapt to different environmental pressures and growth needs. This review highlights the ability of RBPs to use liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) as a platform for translation regulation, integrating nuclear-mitochondrial positive and retrograde signals to coordinate cross-department translation, reshape mitochondrial energy metabolism, and promote the development and survival of tumor cells.

An injectable, self-healing, electroconductive hydrogel loaded with neural stem cells and donepezil for enhancing local therapy effect of spinal cord injury

BACKGROUND

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a serious injury with high mortality and disability rates, and there is no effective treatment at present. It has been reported that some treatments, such as drug intervention and stem cell transplantation have positive effects in promoting neurological recovery. Although those treatments are effective for nerve regeneration, many drawbacks, such as low stem cell survival rates and side effects caused by systemic medication, have limited their development. In recent years, injectable hydrogel materials have been widely used in tissue engineering due to their good biocompatibility, biodegradability, controllable properties, and low invasiveness. The treatment strategy of injectable hydrogels combined with stem cells or drugs has made some progress in SCI repair, showing the potential to overcome the drawbacks of traditional drugs and stem cell therapy.

METHODS

In this study, a novel injectable electroactive hydrogel (NGP) based on sodium hyaluronate oxide (SAO) and polyaniline-grafted gelatine (NH₂-Gel-PANI) was developed as a material in which to load neural stem cells (NSCs) and donepezil (DPL) to facilitate nerve regeneration after SCI. To evaluate the potential of the prepared NGP hydrogel in SCI repair applications, the surface morphology, self-repairing properties, electrical conductivity and cytocompatibility of the resulting hydrogel were analysed. Meanwhile, we evaluated the neural repair ability of NGP hydrogels loaded with DPL and NSCs using a rat model of spinal cord injury.

RESULTS

The NGP hydrogel has a suitable pore size, good biocompatibility, excellent conductivity, and injectable and self-repairing properties, and its degradation rate matches the repair cycle of spinal cord injury. In addition, DPL could be released continuously and slowly from the NGP hydrogel; thus, the NGP hydrogel could serve as an excellent carrier for drugs and cells. The results of in vitro cell experiments showed that the NGP hydrogel had good cytocompatibility and could significantly promote the neuronal differentiation and axon growth of NSCs, and loading the hydrogel with DPL could significantly enhance this effect. More importantly, the NGP hydrogel loaded with DPL showed a significant inhibitory effect on astrocytic differentiation of NSCs in vitro. Animal experiments showed that the combination of NGP hydrogel, DPL, and NSCs had the best therapeutic effect on the recovery of motor function and nerve conduction function in rats. NGP hydrogel loaded with NSCs and DPL not only significantly increased the myelin sheath area, number of new neurons and axon area but also minimized the area of the cystic cavity and glial scar and promoted neural circuit reconstruction.

CONCLUSIONS

The DPL- and NSC-laden electroactive hydrogel developed in this study is an ideal biomaterial for the treatment of traumatic spinal cord injury.