Search results for " Epithelial cells"

The Role of Transforming Growth Factor-β1 in Airway Inflammation of Childhood Asthma

2013

TGF-beta-targeting structural and inflammatory cells has been implicated in the mechanisms leading to the inflammatory and restructuring processes in asthma, suggesting an impact of TGF-beta1 signaling on the development and persistency of this disease. We investigated the potential early involvement of TGF-beta1 activity in the immunological and molecular mechanisms underlying progression of inflammation in childhood asthma. We evaluated the levels of TGF-beta1 in induced sputum supernatants (ISSs) and the expression of small mother cell against decapentaplegic (Smad) 2 and Smad7 proteins in induced sputum cells (ISCs) from children with intermittent asthma (IA), moderate asthma (MA) and c…

Research of cardiomyocyte precursors in adult rat heart

2006

Recent reports supported the existence of stem cells in adult hearts. However, phenotype and localization of these cells have not been completely described and it is unknown if cardiac regenerative potential differs from one subject to another. The aims of our work were to identify different populations of cardiac stem cells by the analysis of specific markers and to evaluate the expression variability of these markers in 12 adult rat hearts. The expression of CD9, taube nuss and nanog suggests the presence of stem cells from the earliest stages of embryogenesis in adult myocardium. Their different expression could be associated to the degree of stem cell differentiation. CD34 and c-Kit ant…

Downregulation of β2-microglobulin in human cord blood somatic stem cells after transplantation into livers of SCID-mice: an escape mechanism of stem…

2002

Adherently growing, non-hematopoietic somatic stem cells isolated from human cord blood were stained with the fluorescent dye PKH26 and transplanted into livers of SCID-mice to examine a possible cell fate transition. Already 7 days after transplantation stem cells were well integrated into the liver tissue. Human albumin that was not expressed by the stem cells before transplantation was detectable in the host's livers after injection of cord blood stem cells. Human alpha1-antitrypsin was detectable in stem cells already before transplantation and remained positive in the mouse liver. The most interesting observation in this study was the downregulation of human beta2-microglobulin (beta2M…

Endurance exercise causes mild bronchial epithelial damage in humans

2009

Cardiac Stem Cell Research: An Elephant in the Room?

2009

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the industrialized world, and stem cell therapy seems to be a promising treatment for injured cardiac tissue. To reach this goal, the scientific community needs to find a good source of stem cells that can be used to obtain new myocardium in a very period range of time. Since there are many ethical and technical problems with using embryonic stem cells as a source of cells with cardiogenic potential, many laboratories have attempted to isolate potential cardiac stem cells from several tissues. The best candidates seem to be cardiac "progenitor" and/or "stem" cells, which can be isolated from subendocardial biopsies from the same patient or from…

Hepatic progenitors for liver disease: current position

2010

Alice Conigliaro1, David A Brenner2, Tatiana Kisseleva21University “La Sapienza”, Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Cellulari ed Ematologia Policlinico Umberto I, V Clinica Medica, Rome, Italy; 2Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USAAbstract: Liver regeneration restores the original functionality of hepatocytes and cholangiocytes in response to injury. It is regulated on several levels, with different cellular populations contributing to this process, eg, hepatocytes, liver precursor cells, intrahepatic stem cells. In response to injury, mature hepatocytes have the capability to proliferate and give rise to new hepatocytes and cholangi…

Stem cells, cancer stem-like cells, and natural products.

2012

Somatic stem cells can be found in many rapidly regenerating tissues, e.g., the skin, gastrointestinal mucosa, and hematopoietic system, but are also present at low numbers in non-regenerative organs such as the heart and brain. In these organs, somatic stem cells aid in normal tissue homeostasis and repair after injury as well as self-renewal and the generation of specific progenitor cells during differentiation. Cancer stem-like cells are a small subpopulation of self-renewing cells that are able to proliferate upon appropriate stimulation and differentiate into heterogeneous lineages in tumors. Modulation of the behavior of normal tissue stem cells and cancer stem-like cells is an emergi…

Cationic polyaspartamide-based nanocomplexes mediate siRNA entry and down-regulation of the pro-inflammatory mediator high mobility group box 1 in ai…

2015

Abstract High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a nonhistone protein secreted by airway epithelial cells in hyperinflammatory diseases such as asthma. In order to down-regulate HMGB1 expression in airway epithelial cells, siRNA directed against HMGB1 was delivered through nanocomplexes based on a cationic copolymer of poly(N-2-hydroxyethyl)- d,l -aspartamide (PHEA) by using H441 cells. Two copolymers were used in these experiments bearing respectively spermine side chains (PHEA-Spm) and both spermine and PEG2000 chains (PHEA-PEG-Spm). PHEA-Spm and PHEA-PEG-Spm derivatives complexed dsDNA oligonucleotides with a w/w ratio of 1 and higher as shown by a gel retardation assay. PHEA-Spm and PHEA-P…

Short-term exposure to cadmium affects the expression of stress response and apoptosis-related genes in immortalized epithelial cells from the human …

2009

Abstract It is known that cadmium (Cd) evokes cell responses that not only involve protective reactions against toxicity but also induces cell death. Increasing interest has been recently focused on the elucidation of the cellular and molecular aspects of Cd-dependent regulation of gene expression in different model systems. Here, we examined the effects of short-term (24 h) exposure of immortalized non-tumoral HB2 cells from human breast epithelium to CdCl2 at 50 μM concentration, corresponding to the IC50 for this time of incubation. The possible occurrence of apoptosis-related events was evaluated via analysis of the physical state of the DNA and of the membrane localization of phosphaty…

Identification of ERp29, an endoplasmic reticulum lumenal protein, as a new member of the thyroglobulin folding complex.

2002

Folding and post-translational modification of the thyroid hormone precursor, thyroglobulin (Tg), in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of the thyroid epithelial cells is facilitated by several molecular chaperones and folding enzymes, such as BiP, GRP94, calnexin, protein disulfide isomerase, ERp72, and others. They have been shown to associate simultaneously and/or sequentially with Tg in the course of its maturation, thus forming large heterocomplexes in the ER of thyrocytes. Here we present evidence that such complexes include a novel member, an ER-resident lumenal protein, ERp29, which is present in all mammalian tissues with exceptionally high levels of expression in the secretory cells. …