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Severe invasive aspergillosis infection occurs when human immune function is impaired. The interaction between Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus) conidia and type II lung epithelial cells serves an important role in disease progression. The present study compared the proteomes of A549 human lung epithelial cells with and without A. fumigatus infection. Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and protein interaction analyses were performed, and differential protein expression was verified by western blotting and reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR (RT‑qPCR ). In addition, the RNA interference method, an internalization assay and ELISA were performed. Isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification analysis detected a total of 1,582 proteins, from which 111 proteins with differential expression were obtained (fold change >1.5 or <0.75). Among them, 18 proteins were upregulated and 93 proteins were downregulated in A549 cells challenged with A. fumigatus. GO and KEGG analyses revealed that the altered proteins were mainly involved in biological functions, such as cell metabolism, synthesis, the cellular stress response, metabolic pathways and pyruvate metabolism. N‑myc downstream‑regulated gene 1 (NDR G1) expression was upregulated 1.88‑fold, while CD 44 expression was downregulated 0.47‑fold following A. fumigatus infection. The expression levels of specific proteins were verified by western blotting and RT‑qPCR. The internalization efficiency was affected by NDRG1 gene silencing. The secretion of IL‑ 6 and IL‑8 was affected when CD 44 was inhibited. These results indicated that A. fumigatus affects lung epithelial cell metabolism and biological synthetic functions. A number of novel molecules, including NDR G1 and CD 44, were found to be related to A. fumigatus infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successfully expanding hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is advantageous for clinical HSC transplantation. The present study investigated the influence of testosterone on the proliferation, antigen phenotype and expression of hematopoiesis-related genes in umbilical cord blood-derived cluster of differentiation (CD)34+ cells under normoxic or hypoxia conditions. Cord blood (CB) CD34+ cells were separated using magnetic activated cell sorting. A cytokine cocktail and feeder cells were used to stimulate the expansion of CD34+ cells under normoxic (20% O2) and hypoxic (1% O2) conditions for 7 days and testosterone was added accordingly. Cells were identified using flow cytometry and reconstruction capacity was determined using a colony-forming unit (CFU) assay. The effects of oxygen concentration and testosterone on the expression of hematopoietic-related genes, including homeobox (HOX)A9, HOXB2, HOXB4, HOXC4 and BMI-1, were measured using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The results indicated that the number of CFUs and total cells in the testosterone group increased under normoxic and hypoxic conditions compared with the corresponding control groups. Furthermore, the presence of testosterone increased the number of CFU-erythroid colonies. In liquid culture, the growth of CD34+ cells was rapid under normoxic conditions compared with under hypoxic conditions, however CD34+ cells were maintained in an undifferentiated state under hypoxic conditions. The addition of testosterone under hypoxia promoted the differentiation of CD34+ cells into CD34+CD38+CD71+ erythroid progenitor cells. Furthermore, it was determined that the expression of hematopoietic-related genes was significantly increased (P<0.05) in the hypoxia testosterone group compared with the other groups. Therefore, the results of the current study indicate that a combination of hypoxia and testosterone may be a promising cultivation condition for HSC/hemopoietic progenitor cell expansion ex vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and screened for small molecular drugs as supplementary drugs to aid current therapy. Gene expression data of Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) DataSet GSE42221, which consists of 7 primary human B-precursor samples and 4 control B-cell progenitor lymphoblast samples from patients with pediatric ALL, were downloaded from the public GEO database. Linear Models for Microarray Analysis package for R statistical software was used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Subsequently, biclustering analysis of DEGs was performed using pheatmap package for R. Functional enrichment analysis of DEGs was conducted using the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery tool. Additionally, Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes software was used to screen protein-protein interactions (PPIs) of the DEGs, and Connectivity Map database was employed to obtain small-molecule drugs that were significantly associated with DEGs. In total, 116 genes were identified as DEGs in pediatric ALL, including 56 downregulated and 60 upregulated genes. Functional enrichment analysis identified that upregulated DEGs, including marker of proliferation Ki-67, cyclin F and nucleolar and spindle associated protein 1, were significantly enriched in mesenchymal cell differentiation and development processes, whilst downregulated DEGs, including bone marrow morphogenetic protein 2, semaphoring 3F and ephrin B1 were enriched in cell cycle process. Amongst the DEGs, 169 PPIs were identified. Notably, carbimazole and quinostatin were associated with DEGs. Additionally, a number of DEGs were targeted by the two drugs, including signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, nucleolar and spindle associated protein 1 and cell division cycle 20. Mesenchymal cell differentiation and development as well as cell cycle processes may be important for pediatric ALL. Quinostatin may be used as a potent supplementary drug for treating pediatric ALL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tissue engineering is a promising method that may be used to treat spinal cord injury (SCI). The underlying repair mechanism of tissue engineering involves the stable secretion of neurotrophins from seed cells, which eventually differentiate into neurons; therefore, the selection of appropriate seed cells, which stably secrete neurotrophins that easily differentiate into neurons requires investigation. Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs), which are adult SCs, are advantageous due to convenience sampling and easy expansion; therefore, ADSCs are currently the most popular type of seed cell. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) possess superior properties, when compared with other neurotrophic factors, in the maintenance of neuronal survival and promotion of SC differentiation into neurons. The present study used two lentiviruses, which specifically express BDNF and NT-3 [Lenti-BDNF-green fluorescent protein (GFP), Lenti-NT-3-red fluorescent protein (RFP)], to transfect third-generation ADSCs. Three types of seed cell were obtained: i) Seed cells overexpressing BDNF (ADSC/Lenti-BDNF-GFP); ii) seed cells overexpressing NT-3 (ADSC/Lenti-NT-3-RFP); and iii) seed cells overexpressing BDNF and NT-3 (ADSC/Lenti-BDNF-GFP and NT-3-RFP). The transfected cells were then induced to differentiate into neurons and were divided into a further four groups: i) The BDNF and NT-3 co-overexpression group; ii) the BDNF overexpression group; iii) the NT-3 overexpression group; and iv) the control group, which consisted of untransfected ADSCs. The results of the present study demonstrate that BDNF and NT-3 expression was higher 10 days after induction, as detected by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and western blotting. Neuron-specific enolase is a neuronal marker, the expression of which was highest in the BDNF and NT-3 co-overexpression group, followed by the BDNF overexpression group and then by the NT-3 overexpression group. The lowest expression levels of NSE were detected in the control group, as determined by RT-qPCR, western blotting and immunofluorescent staining. These results indicate that BDNF and NT-3 exert a synergistic effect, which may promote the neuronal differentiation of ADSCs. The present study provides a solid theoretical foundation for future experiments regarding the use of tissue engineering technology for the treatment of SCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current cancer therapies are largely reliant upon drugs and radiation that kill dividing cells or inhibit cell division in the primary tumor after radical surgery, whereas metastatic tumors should be more commonly the focus of targeted molecular therapies. Glycoprotein non-metastatic melanoma protein B (Gpnmb) is expressed in various types of cancer, and promotes the migration, invasion and metastasis of tumor cells. Thus, it was hypothesized that a unique clear-cell renal carcinoma (ccRCC) subclone expressing a high level of Gpnmb may metastasize more easily and thus be associated with poor prognosis. In the present study, the expression of Gpnmb was analyzed in primary and metastatic ccRCC samples, and the expression levels of Gpnmb were significantly higher in metastatic ccRCCs than in matched primary samples (P=0.036). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was then performed to determine a cutoff score for Gpnmb expression in another 43 primary ccRCCs. For validation, the ROC-derived cutoff score was subjected to an analysis of the association between Gpnmb expression and patient outcome/clinical characteristics. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that elevated Gpnmb expression predicted a poorer overall survival (OS) in 43 cases of primary ccRCC. In addition, multivariate analyses revealed that Gpnmb expression served as an independent risk factor for ccRCC. Thus, the overexpression of Gpnmb identified patients at high risk and Gpnmb is a potential therapeutic molecular target for this type of tumor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]