Melissa Mantelli

Sericins exhibit ROS-scavenging, anti-tyrosinase, anti-elastase, and in vitro immunomodulatory activities.

Some biological properties of Bombyx mori sericins from twenty strains were investigated, fourteen fed with artificial diet, two with fresh mulberry leaves and four with both diets. Sericin exhibited ROS-scavenging, anti-tyrosinase and anti-elastase properties, the strain significantly influenced these properties, while diet only influenced the anti-tyrosinase activity. Sericins were clustered into 5 groups and one sericin from each group was further studied: sericins showed anti-proliferative activity on in vitro stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells; some strains decreased in vitro secretion of IFNγ, while no effects were observed on TNFα and IL10 release. Therefore, a mixture of sericins extracted from the most promising strains may be useful for dermatological and cosmetic use.

Isolation and Ex Vivo Expansion of Bone Marrow–Derived Porcine Mesenchymal Stromal Cells: Potential for Application in an Experimental Model of Solid Organ Transplantation in Large Animals

Pharmacological aspecific immunosuppression, despite being widely used in solid organ transplantation recipients, is unable to completely prevent allograft rejection. It promotes the occurrence of sometimes life-threatening infections. Due to their immunosuppressive and anti- inflammatory properties, there is great interest in the therapeutic use of bone marrow (BM)-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC). Large animal models play a crucial role to investigate the biological and functional properties of MSCs as novel cellular therapy. In the current study we sought to isolate expand ex vivo, and phenotypically characterize MSC derived from BM of 4 Large White 6-month-old piglets. Porcine MSC (pMSC) were characterized for their in vitro differentiation capacity. pMSC were successfully isolated from all BM samples. They showed spindle-shaped morphology and a stable doubling time on culture. They were positive for CD90, CD29, CD105, and negative for CD45 and CD11b. Furthermore, they differentiated, upon specific in vitro conditions toward adipogenic and osteogenic lineages. The optimization of methods for the isolation and characterization of pMSC may be useful to elucidate their biological and functional properties. The anatomy and physiology of the pig, which is similar to humans, make this animal model more attractive than small animals to test the safety and efficacy of MSC in the context of solid organ transplantation.

Functional and genetic aberrations of in vitro -cultured marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells of patients with classical Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms

Functional and genetic aberrations of in vitro -cultured marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells of patients with classical Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms

Cell‐cycle phases and genetic profile of bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stromal cells expanded in vitro from healthy donors

Human mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) expanded in vitro for cell therapy approaches need to be carefully investigated for genetic stability, by employing both molecular and conventional karyotyping. Reliability of cytogenetic analysis may be hampered in some MSC samples by the difficulty of obtaining an adequate number of metaphases. In an attempt to overcome this problem, a methodology apt to evaluate the cell‐cycle structure on synchronous MSCs was optimised. Results obtained in five independent experiments by comparing cell‐cycle analysis of synchronous and asynchronous MSC populations evaluated at early and late culture passages documented that in synchronous MSCs, 30% of cells entered G2/M phase after about 27–28 h of culture, while in asynchronous MSCs only 8% of cells in G2/M phase could be observed at the same time point. Cytogenetic analysis on synchronous MSCs allowed us to obtain 20–25 valuable metaphases/slide, whereas only 0–4 metaphases/slide were detectable in asynchronous preparations. J. Cell. Biochem. 112: 1817–1821, 2011.

An Eco-Friendly Enantioselective Access to (R)-Naringenin as Inhibitor of Proinflammatory Cytokine Release

(RS)‐Naringenin is a flavanone well‐known for its beneficial health‐related properties, such as its anti‐inflammatory activity. The preparative enantioselective chromatographic resolution of commercial (RS)‐naringenin was performed on a Chiralpak AD‐H column (500×50 mm i.d., dp 20 μm) using MeOH as eluent. The developed method is in accordance with the principles of green chemistry, since the environmental impact was lowered by recycling of the eluent, and allowed the production of gram amounts of each enantiomer with high purity (chemical purity >99%, enantiomeric excess (ee) >94%). Racemic and enantiomeric naringenin were subjected to an exhaustive in vitro investigation of anti‐inflammatory activity, aimed at evaluating the relevance of chirality. The assay with cultured human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (hPBMC) activated by phytohemagglutinin A revealed that (R)‐naringenin was more effective in inhibiting T‐cell proliferation than the (S)‐enantiomer and the racemate. Moreover, (R)‐naringenin significantly reduced proinflammatory cytokine levels such as those of TNF‐α and, with less potency, IL‐6. These results evidenced the anti‐inflammatory potential of naringenin and the higher capacity of (R)‐naringenin to inhibit both in vitro hPBMC proliferation and cytokine secretion at non toxic doses. Thus, (R)‐naringenin is a promising candidate for in vivo investigation.

B lymphocyte subsets and their functional activity in the early months of life

In the present study we evaluated B-cell subsets and their functional development in 74 newborns from birth to 6 months of life. Moreover, we evaluated “natural antibody” production in vitro. The results documented a predominance of naive B-lymphocytes at all time-points evaluated, decreasing from birth to 6 months (p=0.009). The percentages of CD27+IgD+ and CD27+IgDneg memory B-cells were very low at birth and significantly increased only at 6 months (p=0.02 and p<0.001, respectively). We found a significant increase only in in vitro stimulated IgG production at 6 months as compared to birth (p<0.001). Moreover, a lower secretion of anti-Pn IgM antibodies up to 6 months of age, as compared to controls was observed. Our results underline that the susceptibility and severe course of infection in the neonate can be attributed, at least in part, to the lack of pre-existing immunological memory and competent adaptive immunity.

Comprehensive characterization of mesenchymal stromal cells from patients with Fanconi anaemia

Fanconi anaemia (FA) is an inherited disorder characterized by pancytopenia, congenital malformations and a predisposition to develop malignancies. Alterations in the haematopoietic microenvironment of FA patients have been reported, but little is known regarding the components of their bone marrow (BM) stroma. We characterized mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) isolated from BM of 18 FA patients both before and after allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Morphology, fibroblast colony‐forming unit (CFU‐F) ability, proliferative capacity, immunophenotype, differentiation potential, ability to support long‐term haematopoiesis and immunomodulatory properties of FA‐MSCs were analysed and compared with those of MSCs expanded from 15 age‐matched healthy donors (HD‐MSCs). FA‐MSCs were genetically characterized through conventional karyotyping, diepoxybutane‐test and array‐comparative genomic hybridization. FA‐MSCs generated before and after HSCT were compared. Morphology, immunophenotype, differentiation potential, ability in vitro to inhibit mitogen‐induced T‐cell proliferation and to support long‐term haematopoiesis did not differ between FA‐MSCs and HD‐MSCs. CFU‐F ability and proliferative capacity of FA‐MSCs isolated after HSCT were significantly lower than those of HD‐MSCs. FA‐MSCs reached senescence significantly earlier than HD‐MSCs and showed spontaneous chromosome fragility. Our findings indicate that FA‐MSCs are defective in their ability to survive in vitro and display spontaneous chromosome breakages; whether these defects are involved in pathophysiology of BM failure syndromes deserves further investigation.

Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Prevent Renal Fibrosis in a Rat Model of Unilateral Ureteral Obstruction by Suppressing the Renin-Angiotensin System via HuR

We studied Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSC) effects in experimental Unilateral Ureteral Obstruction (UUO), a fibrogenic renal disease. Rats were divided in 5 groups: sham, UUO, MSC treated-UUO, ACEi treated-UUO, MSC+ACEi treated- UUO. Data were collected at 1, 7, 21 days. UUO induced monocyte renal infiltration, tubular cell apoptosis, tubular atrophy, interstitial fibrosis and overexpression of TGFβ, Renin mRNA (RENmRNA), increase of Renin, Angiotensin II (AII) and aldosterone serum levels. Both lisinopril (ACEi) and MSC treatment prevented monocyte infiltration, reduced tubular cell apoptosis, renal fibrosis and TGFβ expression. Combined therapy provided a further suppression of monocyte infiltration and tubular injury. Lisinopril alone caused a rebound activation of Renin-Angiotensin System (RAS), while MSC suppressed RENmRNA and Renin synthesis and induced a decrease of AII and aldosterone serum levels. Furthermore, in in-vitro and in-vivo experiments, MSC inhibit Human antigen R (HuR) trascription, an enhancer of RENmRNA stability by IL10 release. In conclusion, we demonstrate that in UUO MSC prevent fibrosis, by decreasing HuR-dependent RENmRNA stability. Our findings give a clue to understand the molecular mechanism through which MSC may prevent fibrosis in a wide and heterogeneous number of diseases that share RAS activation as common upstream pathogenic mechanism.

In vitro biosafety profile evaluation of multipotent mesenchymal stem cells derived from the bone marrow of sarcoma patients

BackgroundIn osteosarcoma (OS) and most Ewing sarcoma (EWS) patients, the primary tumor originates in the bone. Although tumor resection surgery is commonly used to treat these diseases, it frequently leaves massive bone defects that are particularly difficult to be treated. Due to the therapeutic potential of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), OS and EWS patients could benefit from an autologous MSCs-based bone reconstruction. However, safety concerns regarding the in vitro expansion of bone marrow-derived MSCs have been raised. To investigate the possible oncogenic potential of MSCs from OS or EWS patients (MSC-SAR) after expansion, this study focused on a biosafety assessment of MSC-SAR obtained after short- and long-term cultivation compared with MSCs from healthy donors (MSC-CTRL).MethodsWe initially characterized the morphology, immunophenotype, and differentiation multipotency of isolated MSC-SAR. MSC-SAR and MSC-CTRL were subsequently expanded under identical culture conditions. Cells at the early (P3/P4) and late (P10) passages were collected for the in vitro analyses including: sequencing of genes frequently mutated in OS and EWS, evaluation of telomerase activity, assessment of the gene expression profile and activity of major cancer pathways, cytogenetic analysis on synchronous MSCs, and molecular karyotyping using a comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) array.ResultsMSC-SAR displayed comparable morphology, immunophenotype, proliferation rate, differentiation potential, and telomerase activity to MSC-CTRL. Both cell types displayed signs of senescence in the late stages of culture with no relevant changes in cancer gene expression. However, cytogenetic analysis detected chromosomal anomalies in the early and late stages of MSC-SAR and MSC-CTRL after culture.ConclusionsOur results demonstrated that the in vitro expansion of MSCs does not influence or favor malignant transformation since MSC-SAR were not more prone than MSC-CTRL to deleterious changes during culture. However, the presence of chromosomal aberrations supports rigorous phenotypic, functional and genetic evaluation of the biosafety of MSCs, which is important for clinical applications.

Perfusion of isolated rat kidney with Mesenchymal Stromal Cells/Extracellular Vesicles prevents ischaemic injury

Kidney donation after circulatory death (DCD) is a less than ideal option to meet organ shortages. Hypothermic machine perfusion (HMP) with Belzer solution (BS) improves the viability of DCD kidneys, although the graft clinical course remains critical. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) promote tissue repair by releasing extracellular vesicles (EV). We evaluated whether delivering MSC‐/MSC‐derived EV during HMP protects rat DCD kidneys from ischaemic injury and investigated the underlying pathogenic mechanisms. Warm ischaemic isolated kidneys were cold‐perfused (4 hrs) with BS, BS supplemented with MSC or EV. Renal damage was evaluated by histology and renal gene expression by microarray analysis, RT‐PCR. Malondialdehyde, lactate, LDH, glucose and pyruvate were measured in the effluent fluid. MSC‐/EV‐treated kidneys showed significantly less global ischaemic damage. In the MSC/EV groups, there was up‐regulation of three genes encoding enzymes known to improve cell energy metabolism and three genes encoding proteins involved in ion membrane transport. In the effluent fluid, lactate, LDH, MDA and glucose were significantly lower and pyruvate higher in MSC/EV kidneys as compared with BS, suggesting the larger use of energy substrates by MSC/EV kidneys. The addition of MSC/EV to BS during HMP protects the kidney from ischaemic injury by preserving the enzymatic machinery essential for cell viability and protects the kidney from reperfusion damage.