Low concentration Phloxine B staining for high chemical contrast, nonlinear microscope mosaic imaging of skin alterations in pseudoxanthoma elasticum

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is an autosomal recessive metabolic disorder characterized by ectopic mineralization of soft connective tissue. Histopathology findings include fragmented, mineralized elastic fibers and calcium deposits in the mid-dermis. Nonlinear microscopy (NLM) can be used for visualization of these histopathological alterations of the mid-dermis in PXE-affected skin sections. Upon introducing a normalized 3D color vector representation of emission spectra of three of the main tissue components (collagen, elastin and calcification) we found that due to their broad, overlapping emission spectra, spectral separation of emission from elastin and calcification is practically impossible in fresh-frozen or unstained, deparaffinized PXE sections. However, we found that the application of a low concentration Phloxine B staining after the deparaffinization process creates an imaging contrast for these two tissue components, which enables spectral decomposition of their fluorescence images. The obtained concentration maps for calcium deposits can be well suited for the determination of illness severity by quantitative analysis.

Exploitation of Langerhans cells for in vivo DNA vaccine delivery into the lymph nodes

There is no clinically available cancer immunotherapy that exploits Langerhans cells (LCs), the epidermal precursors of dendritic cells (DCs) that are the natural agent of antigen delivery. We developed a DNA formulation with a polymer and obtained synthetic 'pathogen-like' nanoparticles that preferentially targeted LCs in epidermal cultures. These nanoparticles applied topically under a patch-elicited robust immune responses in human subjects. To demonstrate the mechanism of action of this novel vaccination strategy in live animals, we assembled a high-resolution two-photon laser scanning-microscope. Nanoparticles applied on the native skin poorly penetrated and poorly induced LC motility. The combination of nanoparticle administration and skin treatment was essential both for efficient loading the vaccine into the epidermis and for potent activation of the LCs to migrate into the lymph nodes. LCs in the epidermis picked up nanoparticles and accumulated them in the nuclear region demonstrating an effective nuclear DNA delivery in vivo. Tissue distribution studies revealed that the majority of the DNA was targeted to the lymph nodes. Preclinical toxicity of the LC-targeting DNA vaccine was limited to mild and transient local erythema caused by the skin treatment. This novel, clinically proven LC-targeting DNA vaccine platform technology broadens the options on DC-targeting vaccines to generate therapeutic immunity against cancer.

Improvement of insulin sensitivity by a novel drug, BGP-15, in insulin-resistant patients: a proof of concept randomized double-blind clinical trial

The efficacy and safety of the new drug, BGP-15, were compared with placebo in insulin-resistant patients in a 28-day dose-ranging study. Forty-seven nondiabetic patients with impaired glucose tolerance were randomly assigned to 4 weeks of treatment with 200 or 400 mg of BGP-15 or placebo. Insulin resistance was determined by hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp technique and homeostasis model assessment method, and beta-cell function was measured by intravenous glucose tolerance test. Each BGP-15 dose significantly increased whole body insulin sensitivity (M-1, p=0.032), total body glucose utilization (M-2, p=0.035), muscle tissue glucose utilization (M-3, p=0.040), and fat-free body mass glucose utilization (M-4, p=0.038) compared to baseline and placebo. No adverse drug effects were observed during treatment. BGP-15 at 200 or 400 mg significantly improved insulin sensitivity in insulin-resistant, nondiabetic patients during treatment compared to placebo and was safe and well-tolerated. This was the first clinical study demonstrating the insulin-sensitizing effect of a molecule, which is considered as a co-inducer of heat shock proteins.

Unregulated activation of STAT-5, ERK1/2 and c-Fos may contribute to the phenotypic transformation from myelodysplastic syndrome to acute leukaemia

Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is characterised by ineffective erythropoiesis and poor progenitor response to erythropoietin (Epo). The aim of this study was to determine the role of the Epo-R mediated signalling in the rise of MDS and whether alteration of signalling pathways contribute to the leukeamogenesis from MDS to acute leukaemia. We analysed Epo and GM-CSF induced ERK1/2 activation, c-Fos expression, STAT-5 and AP-1 DNA binding activities in mononuclear cells of umbilical cord blood (UCBMNC), normal marrow (NBMMNC) or marrow with MDS, AML with prior MDS and de novo AML. In UCBMNC and NBMMNC, Epo and GM-CSF induced the activation of STAT-5 DNA binding and ERK 1/2 activation (n = 6). In contrast, in MDS RA, both signalling pathways were activated only by GM-CSF but not by Epo (n = 7). In acute leukaemia, elevated basal activity of STAT-5 DNA binding appeared in 8/8 cases, which was independent of Epo or GM-CSF treatment. In normal and MDS samples, c-Fos and Egr-1 proteins were not detectable and the expression levels were not increased by Epo or GM-CSF treatment. In contrast, we found an elevated level of c-Fos expression in 5/8 acute leukemia cases, which was not further increased in the presence of Epo or GM-CSF. The elevated c-Fos expression was accompanied by an extremely high blast number in 5/5 cases. These results suggest that impaired ERK/MAPK activation, similarly to impaired STAT-5 activation in Epo-R signalling, may be responsible for the apoptotic process and the block of maturation in MDS RA. The results also suggest that the appearance of the constitutively activated STAT-5 DNA binding and c-Fos expression may be used as a predictor of the blastic transformation.

Activation of Raf/ERK1/2 MAP kinase pathway is involved in GM-CSF-induced proliferation and survival but not in erythropoietin-induced differentiation of TF-1 cells

The involvement of MAPK pathways in differentiation, proliferation and survival was investigated by comparing Epo and GM-CSF signalling in human factor-dependent myeloerythroid TF-1 cells with abnormal Epo-R. GM-CSF withdrawal induced cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis accompanied by increased caspase-3 activity, DNA degradation and reduced expression of the antiapoptotic Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl proteins. Readministration of GM-CSF but not Epo reversed these processes and induced proliferation. The GM-CSF promoted cell survival and proliferation correlated with MEK-1 dependent ERK1/2, Elk-1 and CREB phosphorylation and Egr-1, c-Fos expression as well as with increased STAT-5, AP-1, c-Myb and NF-kappaB DNA-binding. In contrast, Epo failed to activate the Raf-1/ERK1/2 MAPK pathway or to induce Egr-1 and/or c-Fos expression, while it induced erythroid differentiation in GM-CSF-deprived cells. In addition, the Epo-induced haemoglobin production was inhibited in the presence of GM-CSF. These results demonstrate that the activation of MAPK cascade is not necessary for Epo-induced haemoglobin production in TF-1 cells and suggest a negative cross-talk between the signalling of GM-CSF-stimulated cell proliferation and Epo-induced erythroid differentiation.

Signalling mechanisms and the role of calcineurin in erythropoiesis

Erythropoietin (Epo) is the principal regulator of the production of circulating erythrocytes by controlling the proliferation, the differentiation and the survival of the erythroid progenitor cells. Early down-regulation of c-myb expression in erythroleukemia cells is a common feature of the action of Epo and chemical inducers of differentiation such as DMSO. Previously we have shown that in our Epo-responsive murine erythroleukemia cell line ELM-I-1, [Ca2+]i increasing agents can mimic the effect of Epo on c-myb expression and activate nuclear signal transduction processes involved in the induction of hemoglobin synthesis. These results also indicated that the Ca2+-induced down-regulation of c-myb expression and hemoglobin synthesis are mediated by the Ca2+/calmodulin dependent serine/threonine-specific protein phosphatase PP2B, calcineurin, but the Epo induced processes are not mediated by PP2B. In spite of this, we demonstrated in this paper that in ELM-I-1 cells the Epo-induced down-regulation of c-myb expression and hemoglobin production can be effectively enhanced by the simultaneously added [Ca2+]i-increasing agent, cyclopiazonic acid (CPA). This observation further supports the existence of at least two independent signalling pathways in the mechanism of Epo and [Ca2+]i increasing agents and the strong correlation between c-myb expression and hemoglobin production in differentiating cells. Although the c-AMP-response element binding protein (CREB) could be the common target of both calcium-dependent and -independent dephosphorylation, our results do not support the involvement of CREB in the regulation of c-myb gene expression. In addition to the calcineurin mediated down-regulation of c-myb expression, we have found a negative regulatory effect in the Ca2+-mediated transcriptional activation of certain genes. In response to [Ca2+]i-increasing agents in ELM-I-1 cells, both, egr-1 and c-fos mRNA expression increased significantly after the inhibition of calcineurin by cyclosporine A. Cyclosporin A exerted stimulatory effects on the egr-1 and c-fos expression also at lower (150-400 nM) intracellular Ca2+ levels. This potential co-regulation of c-myb, egr-1 and c-fos expression by calcineurin suggests that the negative modulation of egr-1 and c-fos expression may also be important for the induction of erythroid differentiation by [Ca2+]i-increasing agents. This negative modulation may also contribute to the Epo-induced differentiation in the case of a moderate increase of [Ca2+]i.