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Detailed characterization of cell type transitions is essential for cell biology in general and particularly for the development of stem cell-based therapies in regenerative medicine. To systematically study such transitions, we introduce a method that simultaneously measures protein expression and thermal stability changes in cells and provide the web-based visualization tool ProteoTracker. We apply our method to study differences between human pluripotent stem cells and several cell types including their parental cell line and differentiated progeny. We detect alterations of protein properties in numerous cellular pathways and components including ribosome biogenesis and demonstrate that modulation of ribosome maturation through SBDS protein can be helpful for manipulating cell stemness in vitro. Using our integrative proteomics approach and the web-based tool, we uncover a molecular basis for the uncoupling of robust transcription from parsimonious translation in stem cells and propose a method for maintaining pluripotency in vitro., To characterize molecular changes during cell type transitions, the authors develop a method to simultaneously measure protein expression and thermal stability changes. They apply this approach to study differences between human pluripotent stem cells, their progenies, parental and allogeneic cells.

Circulating nucleic acids, such as short interfering RNA (siRNA), regulate many biological processes; however, the mechanism by which these molecules enter the cell is poorly understood. The role of extracellular‐matrix‐derived polymers in binding siRNAs and trafficking them across the plasma membrane is reported. Thermal melting, dynamic light scattering, scanning electron microscopy, and computational analysis indicate that hyaluronic acid can stabilize siRNA via hydrogen bonding and Van der Waals interactions. This stabilization facilitated HA size‐ and concentration‐dependent gene silencing in a CD44‐positive human osteosarcoma cell line (MG‐63) and in human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs). This native HA‐based siRNA transfection represents the first report on an anionic, non‐viral delivery method that resulted in approximately 60 % gene knockdown in both cell types tested, which correlated with a reduction in translation levels. acceptedVersion

Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) evoke great excitement for treating different human diseases due to their ability to home inflamed tissues, suppress inflammation, and promote tissue regeneration. Despite great promises, clinical trial results are disappointing as allotransplantation of MSCs trigger thrombotic activity and are damaged by the complement system, compromising their survival and function. To overcome this, a new strategy is presented by the silencing of tissue factor (TF), a transmembrane protein that mediates procoagulant activity. Novel Pluronic-based micelles are designed with the pendant pyridyl disulfide group, which are used to conjugate TF-targeting siRNA by the thiol-exchange reaction. This nanocarrier design effectively delivered the payload to MSCs resulting in ∼72% TF knockdown (KD) without significant cytotoxicity. Hematological evaluation of MSCs and TF-KD MSCs in an ex vivo human whole blood model revealed a significant reduction in an instant-blood-mediated-inflammatory reaction as evidenced by reduced platelet aggregation (93% of free platelets in the TF-KD group, compared to 22% in untreated bone marrow-derived MSCs) and thrombin-antithrombin complex formation. Effective TF silencing induced higher MSC differentiation in osteogenic and adipogenic media and showed stronger paracrine suppression of proinflammatory cytokines in macrophages and higher stimulation in the presence of endotoxins. Thus, TF silencing can produce functional cells with higher fidelity, efficacy, and functions. publishedVersion

Introduction Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) have a great clinical potential for tissue regeneration purposes due to its multilineage capability. Previous studies have reported that a single addition of 5-azacytidine (5-AzaC) causes the differentiation of hMSCs towards a myocardial lineage. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of 5-AzaC addition frequency on hMSCs priming (i.e., indicating an early genetic differentiation) using two culture environments. Methods hMSCs were supplemented with 5-AzaC while cultured in well plates and in microfluidic chips. The impact of 5-AzaC concentration (10 and 20 μM) and addition frequency (once, daily or continuously), as well as of culture period (2 or 5 days) on the genetic upregulation of PPARγ (adipocytes), PAX3 (myoblasts), SOX9 (chondrocytes) and RUNX2 (osteoblasts) was evaluated. Results Daily delivering 5-AzaC caused a higher upregulation of PPARγ, SOX9 and RUNX2 in comparison to a single dose delivery, both under static well plates and dynamic microfluidic cultures. A particularly high gene expression of PPARγ (tenfold-change) could indicate priming of hMSCs towards adipocytes. Conclusions Both macro- and microscale cultures provided results with similar trends, where addition frequency of 5-AzaC was a crucial factor to upregulate several genes. Microfluidics technology was proven to be a suitable platform for the continuous delivery of a drug and could be used for screening purposes in tissue engineering research.

There is an unmet need to develop strategies that allow site-specific delivery of short interfering RNA (siRNA) without any associated toxicity. To address this challenge, we have developed a novel siRNA delivery platform using chemically modified pluronic F108 as an amphiphilic polymer with a releasable bioactive disulfide functionality. The micelles exhibited thermoresponsive properties and showed a hydrodynamic size of similar to 291 nm in DLS and similar to 200-250 nm in SEM at 37 degrees C. The grafting of free disulfide pyridyl groups enhanced the transfection efficiency and was successfully demonstrated in human colon carcinoma (HCT116; 88%) and glioma cell lines (U87; 90%), non-cancerous human dermal fibroblast (HDF; 90%) cells as well as in mouse embryonic stem (mES; 54%) cells. To demonstrate the versatility of our modular nanocarrier design, we conjugated the MDGI receptor targeting COOP peptide on the particle surface that allowed the targeted delivery of the cargo molecules to human patent-derived primary BT-13 gliospheres. Transfection experiments with this design resulted in similar to 65% silencing of STAT3 mRNA in BT-13 gliospheres, while only similar to 20% of gene silencing was observed in the absence of the peptide. We believe that our delivery method solves current problems related to the targeted delivery of RNAi drugs for potential in vivo applications.

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is among the most widely used materials for organ-on-chip systems. Despite its multiple beneficial characteristics from an engineering point of view, there is a concern about the effect of PDMS on the cells cultured in such devices. The aim of this study was to enhance the understanding of the effect of PDMS on cellular behavior in a context relevant for on-chip studies. The focus was put on an indirect effect of PDMS, namely leaching of uncrosslinked oligomers, particularly for bone regeneration applications. PDMS-based chips were prepared and analyzed for the potential release of PDMS oligomers within the microfluidic channel when kept at different flow rates. Leaching of uncrosslinked oligomers from PDMS was quantified as silicon concentration by inductively coupled plasma - optical emission spectrometry and further confirmed by mass spectrometry. Subsequently, PDMS-leached media, with a silicon concentration matching the on-chip experiment, were prepared to study cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblasts and human mesenchymal stem cells. The silicon concentration initially detected in the media was inversely proportional to the tested flow rates and decreased to control levels within 52 h. In addition, by curing the material overnight instead of 2 h, regardless of the curing temperature (65 and 80 °C), a large reduction in silicon concentration was found, indicating the importance of the PDMS curing parameters. Furthermore, it was shown that PDMS oligomers enhanced the differentiation of MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblasts, this being a cell type dependent effect as no changes in cell differentiation were observed for human mesenchymal stem cells. Overall, this study illustrates the importance of optimization steps when using PDMS devices for biological studies, in particular PDMS curing conditions and extensive washing steps prior to an experiment.

We designed novel 4 '-C-guanidinocarbohydrazidomethyl-5-methyl uridine (GMU) modified small interfering RNA (siRNA) and evaluated its biophysical and biochemical properties. Incorporation of GMU units significantly increased the thermodynamic stability as well as the enzymatic stability against nucleases in human serum. A gene silencing experiment indicated that GMU modfied siRNA (siRNA6) resulted in approximate to 4.9-fold more efficient knockdown than unmodified siRNA. Correction in: CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS, Volume: 55, Issue: 67, Pages: 10028-10028, DOI: 10.1039/c9cc90352f

Currently, there are limited approaches to tailor 3D scaffolds cross-linked with a stable covalent C-C bond that does not require any catalysts or initiators. We present here the first hydrogels employing aldol condensation chemistry that exhibit exceptional physicochemical properties. We investigated the aldol-cross-linking chemistry using two types of aldehyde-modified hyaluronic acid (HA) derivatives, namely, an enolizable HA-aldehyde (HA-Eal) and a non-enolizable HA-aldehyde (HA-Nal). Hydrogels formed using HA-Eal demonstrate inferior cross-linking efficiency (due to intramolecular loop formation), when compared with hydrogels formed by mixing HA-Eal and HA-NaI leading to a cross-aldol product. The change in mechanical properties as a result of cross-linking at different pH values is determined using rheological measurements and is interpreted in terms of molecular weight between cross-links (Mc). The novel HA cross-aldol hydrogel demonstrate excellent hydrolytic stability and favorable mechanical properties but allow hyaluronidase-mediated enzymatic degradation. Interestingly, residual aldehyde functionality within the aldol product rendered the tissue-adhesive properties by bonding two bone tissues. The aldehyde functionality also facilitated facile post-synthetic modifications with nucleophilic reagents. Finally, we demonstrate that the novel hydrogel is biocompatible with encapsulated stem cells that show a linear rate of expansion in our 3-6 days of study.

Ex vivo gene therapy offers enormous potential for cell-based therapies, however, cumbersome in vitro cell culture conditions have limited its use in clinical practice. We have optimized an innovative strategy for the transient transfection of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) expressing plasmids in suspended human stem cells within 5-min that enables efficient loading of the transfected cells into a 3D hydrogel system. Such a short incubation time for lipid-based DNA nanoparticles (lipoplexes) reduces cytotoxicity and at the same time reduces the processing time for cells to be transplanted. The encapsulated human mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (hMSCs) transfected with BMP-2 plasmid demonstrated high expression of an osteogenic transcription factor, namely RUNX2, but not the chondrogenic factor (SOX9), within the first three days. This activation was also reflected in the 7-day and 21-day experiment, which clearly indicated the induction of osteogenesis but not chondrogenesis. We believe our transient transfection method demonstrated in primary MSCs can be adapted for other therapeutic genes for different cell-based therapeutic applications.

TCDD, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) coexist in the environment. However, there are few studies on combined effects of these compounds. We have studied the effect of TCDD, PCB153 and estradiol on p53 signaling induced by PAHs. We show that all three compounds amplified the accumulation of nuclear p53, elicited by benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) or dibenzo[al]pyrene (DBP). This effect was associated with an attenuated PAH-induced apoptosis and with decreased levels of phosphorylated FoxO3a Thr32. Thr32 phosphorylation of FoxO3a may promote a translocation of FoxO3a-p53 complex from nucleus to the cytoplasm, and the role of FoxO3a dephosphorylation was further studied. We found that inhibition of PP2A phosphatase restored levels of phosphorylated FoxO3a, led to cytosolic translocation of p53, and activated BaP-induced p53-mediated apoptosis. These results were confirmed by silencing FoxO3a with siRNA or by inhibiting 14-3-3 protein; also these treatments trapped BaP-induced p53 in the nucleus. Our data indicate interplay between p53, FoxO3a and 14-3-3 leading to an attenuated BaP induced apoptosis in cells co-exposed to TCDD, PCB 153 or estradiol.

Differences in cancer incidences between men and women are often explained by either differences in environmental exposures or by influences of sex hormones. However, there are few studies on intrinsic gender differences in susceptibility to chemical carcinogens. We have analyzed the National Toxicology Program (NTP) database for sex differences in rat responses to chemical carcinogens. We found that the odds that male rat bioassays were assigned a higher level of evidence than female rat bioassays was 1.69 ( p < .001). Of 278 carcinogenic chemicals in the database, 201 (72%) exhibited statistical gender differences ( p ≤ .05) in at least one nonreproductive organ. One hundred thirty of these 201 chemicals induced gender-specific tumors in male rats and 59 in female rats. Sixty-eight chemicals induced tumors in males but no tumors in females. Less than one third (i.e., 19 chemicals) induced tumors in females but not males. Male-specific tumors included pancreatic and skin tumors, and female-specific tumors included lung tumors. For some tumor sites, these differences in gender susceptibility can be associated with literature data on sex hormone receptor expression. In conclusion, gender-specific tumors were common. The male dominance is in line with recent human data, and the male susceptibility to carcinogens should be further studied.

Correction for ‘4′-Guanidinium-modified siRNA: a molecular tool to control RNAi activity through RISC priming and selective antisense strand loading’ by Ganesh N. Nawale et al., Chem. Commun., 2019, 55, 9112–9115.

Akt is an important oncoprotein, and data suggest a critical role for nuclear Akt in cancer development. We have previously described a rapid (3-5 min) and P2X7-dependent depletion of nuclear phosphorylated Akt (pAkt) and effects on downstream targets, and here we studied mechanisms behind the pAkt depletion. We show that cholesterol-lowering drugs, statins, or extracellular ATP, induced a complex and coordinated response in insulin-stimulated A549 cells leading to depletion of nuclear pAkt. It involved protein/lipid phosphatases PTEN, pleckstrin homology domain leucine-rich repeat phosphatase (PHLPP1 and -2), protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), and calcineurin. We employed immunocytology, immunoprecipitation, and proximity ligation assay techniques and show that PHLPP and calcineurin translocated to the nucleus and formed complexes with Akt within 3 min. Also PTEN translocated to the nucleus and then co-localized with pAkt close to the nuclear membrane. An inhibitor of the scaffolding immunophilin FK506-binding protein 51 (FKBP51) and calcineurin, FK506, prevented depletion of nuclear pAkt. Furthermore, okadaic acid, an inhibitor of PP2A, prevented the nuclear pAkt depletion. Chemical inhibition and siRNA indicated that PHLPP, PP2A, and PTEN were required for a robust depletion of nuclear pAkt, and in prostate cancer cells lacking PTEN, transfection of PTEN restored the statin-induced pAkt depletion. The activation of protein and lipid phosphatases was paralleled by a rapid proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) translocation to the nucleus, a PCNA-p21(cip1) complex formation, and cyclin D1 degradation. We conclude that these effects reflect a signaling pathway for rapid depletion of pAkt that may stop the cell cycle.

Reliable and efficient DNA and RNA transfection methods are required when studying the role of individual genes in mouse pluripotent stem cells. However, these cells usually grow in tight clusters and are therefore more difficult to transfect than many other cell lines. We have found that transfection is especially challenging when mouse embryonic stem (mES) cells are cultured in the newly described 2i medium, which is based on two chemical inhibitors of differentiation pathways. In the present study we have performed a side-by-side comparison of commercially available, non-viral transfection reagents with regard to their ability to deliver plasmid DNA and siRNA into adherent and/or trypsinized mES cells cultured in 2i medium, assessing transfection rates, plasmid gene expression, siRNA mediated knockdown of Oct4 and viability. Finally, we present a fast and efficient method for transfection of trypsinized mES cells using the liposomal-based Lipofectamine 2000. With only a five-minute long transfection time we obtained at least 85 % transfected cells with 80 % maintained viability. Moreover, this protocol saves up to a day of experimental time since the cells are in suspension at the time of transfection, which allows for immediately re-plating into the appropriate format. This fast, simplified and highly efficient transfection method will be valuable for both basic research and high-throughput applications. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12015-016-9673-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Exocrine pancreatic cancer is an aggressive disease with an exceptionally high mortality rate. Genetic analysis suggests a causative role for environmental factors, but consistent epidemiological support is scarce and no biomarkers for monitoring the effects of chemical pancreatic carcinogens are available. With the objective to identify common traits for chemicals inducing pancreatic tumors we studied the National Toxicology Program (NTP) bioassay database. We found that male rats were affected more often than female rats and identified eight chemicals that induced exocrine pancreatic tumors in males only. For a hypothesis generating process we used a text mining tool to analyse published literature for suggested mode of actions (MOA). The resulting MOA analysis suggested inflammatory responses as common feature. In cell studies we found that all the chemicals increased protein levels of the inflammatory protein autotaxin (ATX) in Panc-1, MIA PaCa-2 or Capan-2 cells. Induction of MMP-9 and increased invasive migration were also frequent effects, consistent with ATX activation. Testosterone has previously been implicated in pancreatic carcinogenesis and we found that it increased ATX levels. Our data show that ATX is a target for chemicals inducing pancreatic tumors in rats. Several lines of evidence implicate ATX and its product lysophosphatidic acid in human pancreatic cancer. Mechanisms of action may include stimulated invasive growth and metastasis. ATX may interact with hormones or onco- or suppressor-genes often deregulated in exocrine pancreatic cancer. Our data suggest that ATX is a target for chemicals promoting pancreatic tumor development.

National Toxicology Program (NTP) performs two-year cancer bioassays. We have analyzed the NTP rat data base and searched for gender differences in susceptibility to carcinogens. We identified 10 chemicals that induced exocrine pancreatic cancer in male rats only, but found no chemical that induced pancreatic cancer in female rats only. Furthermore, males were most affected by three chemicals that induced pancreatic cancer in both sexes. In an effort to understand this sex difference in susceptibility, we used a tool which builds on the technology published in BMC Bioinformatics 2009, 10, 303. This tool was built to assist cancer risk assessors in the analysis of literature data on modes of action (MOA). We used this tool in the analysis of 2041 PubMed abstracts on the 10 male-specific carcinogens. The tool automatically selected 634 abstracts as relevant for cancer and sorted them in taxonomies. The sorting suggested that induction of oxidative stress and inflammation was a common feature among the 10 carcinogens. As chronic pancreatitis is a risk factor for human exocrine pancreatic cancer, we investigated the effects of the 10 carcinogens on Ca2+ signaling and on inflammatory markers in pancreatic cancer cell line Panc-1. It was found that many the 10 male specific carcinogens rapidly increased intracellular [Ca2+] and interfered with extracellular ATP-induced Ca2+ release in Panc-1 cells. The effect on [Ca2+] was followed by activation of calcineurin and phosphorylation of Erk. Some of these effects were blocked by inhibitors of the purinergic P2X7 receptor, a receptor which may rapidly increase intracellular [Ca2+]. We further studied the induction of mRNA levels of inflammatory mediators, and found that IL8 was significantly up-regulated by most of the 10 chemicals. Our data suggest that inflammation is important for chemically induced exocrine pancreatic cancer in the rat and that male rats are more susceptible. Our data may have a bearing on human pancreatic cancer as men, and in particular young men, have a higher incidence of pancreatic cancer than women. Increased levels of the P2X7 receptor has also been detected in chronic pancreatitis in humans. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1687.