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Follicular loss and tissue degeneration are great challenges in ovarian tissue culture systems. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) secrete a cocktail of growth factors and cytokines which supports adjacent cells and tissues. The aim of the current study was to investigate the impact of human bone marrow (hBM)-MSC, as co-culture cells, on human follicular development in ovarian cortical tissue (OCT) culture. For this purpose, warmed OCT fragments were co-cultured with hBM-MSC for 8 days and compared to monocultured OCT. During the culture period, ovarian follicle survival and development in the OCT were evaluated using histological observation, follicular developmental-related genes expression, and estradiol production. Furthermore, cell proliferation and apoptosis were assessed. The results showed that there were no significant differences in conserved ovarian follicles with a normal morphology between the two groups. However, the percentage of developing follicles, as well as follicular developmental gene expression, significantly increased in the co-culture group compared to the monoculture group. On the other hand, compared with the monoculture group, the co-culture group demonstrated a significant increase in cell proliferation, indicated by Ki67 gene expression, as well as a dramatic decrease in apoptotic cell percentage, revealed by TUNEL assay. These findings indicated that co-culturing of hBM-MSC with OCT could improve follicular activation and early follicular development in human ovarian tissue culture systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Objective: Some of the patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) are categorized as good prognosis based on the Revised International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS-R). However, these patients may have poor clinical outcomes. It seems that the current diagnostic tools and IPSS-R cannot consider genetic factors for determining the prognosis of MDS patients. Methods: This cross-sectional study included all adult MDS patients of both genders who were admitted from March 2015 to March 2020 to the Hematology wards of two educational tertiary hospitals in Iran (Namazi and Faghihi, affiliated with Shiraz University of medical sciences). Study data included relevant retrospective data from medical records and the results of immunohistochemical p53 staining on bone marrow biopsies. Results: Of the 84 patients, 65 (77.4%) showed p53 expression in bone marrow. They had shorter median survival than those without p53 expression. Considering both variables of P53 IHC results and IPSS-R score, the patients who died with low-risk IPSS-R score presented high p53 expression. Conclusion: This study shows that the investigation of p53 expression by IHC at the time of diagnosis is a valuable indicator of survival rate in MDS patients. These data suggest that the immunohistochemical analysis of p53 can be a prognostic tool for MDS and should be used as an adjunct test to make decisions on the best therapeutic choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]