Search

Exosomes are nano-sized, membrane-bound vesicles released from cells that transport cargo including DNA, RNA, and proteins, between cells as a form of intercellular communication. In addition to their role in intercellular communication, exosomes are beginning to be appreciated as agents of immunoregulation that can modulate antigen presentation, immune activation, suppression, and surveillance. This article summarizes how these multifaceted functions of exosomes may promote development and/or progression of chronic inflammatory lung diseases including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and pulmonary fibrosis. The potential of exosomes as a novel therapeutic is also discussed.

BACKGROUND—The antimicrobial peptide, LL-37 (leucine-leucine-37), stimulates proliferation, angiogenesis and cellular migration, inhibits apoptosis and is associated with inflammation. Since these functional processes are often exaggerated in cancer, the aim of the present study was to investigate the expression and role of LL-37 in prostate cancer (PCa) and establish its value as a therapeutic target. METHODS—We evaluated the expression of LL-37 and the murine orthologue, Cathelicidin Related Anti-Microbial Peptide (CRAMP) in human and murine prostate tumors, respectively. Compared to normal/benign prostate tissue, both LL-37 and CRAMP were increasingly overexpressed with advancing grades of primary prostate cancer and its metastasis in human tissues and in the Transgenic Adenocarcinoma Mouse Prostate (TRAMP) model, correspondingly. We subsequently knocked down CRAMP in the highly tumorigenic TRAMP-C1 cell line via a RNA interference (RNAi) strategy to examine the importance of CRAMP on cellular proliferation, angiogenesis, invasion, apoptosis, activation of signaling pathways and tumor kinetics. RESULTS—Abrogation of CRAMP expression led to decreased proliferation, invasion, type IV collagenase, and the amount of phosphorylated Erk1/2 and Akt signaling in vitro. These results were paralleled in vivo. Syngenic implantation of TRAMP-C1 cells subjected to CRAMP knockdown resulted in a decreased tumor incidence and size, and the down regulation of protumorigenic mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS—CRAMP knockdown in a murine prostate cancer model analogously demonstrated the tumorigenic contributions of LL-37 in PCa and its potential as a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of PCa and potentially, other cancers over-expressing the peptide.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are the most popular among the adult stem cells in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Since their discovery and functional characterization in the late sixties and early seventies, MSCs or MSC-like cells have been obtained from various mesodermal and non-mesodermal tissues, although majority of the therapeutic applications involved bone marrow derived MSCs. Based on its mesenchymal origin, it was predicted earlier that MSCs only can differentiate into mesengenic lineages like bone, cartilage, fat or muscle. However, varied isolation and cell culturing methods identified subsets of MSCs in the bone marrow which not only differentiated into mesenchymal lineages, but also into ectodermal and endodermal derivatives. Although, true pluripotent status is yet to be established, MSCs have been successfully used in bone and cartilage regeneration in osteoporotic fracture and arthritis respectively and in the repair of cardiac tissue following myocardial infarction. Immunosuppressive properties of MSCs extend utility of MSCs to reduce complications of graft versus host disease and rheumatoid arthritis. Homing of MSCs to sites of tissue injury, including tumor, is well established. In addition to their ability in tissue regeneration, MSCs can be genetically engineered ex vivo for delivery of therapeutic molecule(s) to the sites of injury or tumorigenesis as cell therapy vehicles. MSCs tend to lose surface receptors for trafficking and have been reported to develop sarcoma in long-term culture. In this article, we reviewed the current status of MSCs with special emphasis to therapeutic application in bone-related diseases.

BACKGROUND Although anti-angiogenic therapy is a promising new line of therapy for prostate cancer, we recently reported that stable expression of endostatin arrested the progression of prostate cancer to poorly differentiated state and distant metastasis in TRAMP mice. However, the same therapy failed to provide any benefit when given either during or after the onset of metastatic switch. The present study determined the possible mechanisms behind the selective advantage of endostatin therapy in early-stage disease. METHODS Angiogenesis-related gene expression analysis was performed to identify target genes and molecular pathways involved in the therapy effects. Based on the results from in vivo studies, and recapitulation of the in vivo data in vitro using tumorigenic and non-tumorigenic human prostate cancer cells that are either androgen-sensitive or androgen-independent, analyses of possible mechanisms of the selective advantage of early treatment were performed using assays for cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and cell signaling. The identified mechanisms were further confirmed in vivo. RESULTS Results indicated that cells with high androgen receptor (AR) expression were more sensitive to endostatin treatment than androgen-independent cells with low or no AR expression. Endostatin was found to significantly downregulate the expression of growth factors, receptor tyrosine kinases, proteases, and AR both in vitro and in vivo only when the cells express high-levels of AR. Cell proliferation was not influenced by endostatin treatment but migration was significantly affected only in androgen-sensitive cells. Targeted downregulation of AR prior to endostatin treatment in androgen-sensitive cells and overexpression of AR in androgen-independent cells indicated that the effect of endostatin via AR downregulation is mediated by a non-genotropic mechanism on Ras and RhoA pathways, and independently of AR on MAPK/ERK pathway. CONCLUSIONS These data indicate that systemically stable endostatin expression delays the onset of metastatic switch by acting on multiple pathways involving AR. Prostate 69:1055–1066, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.