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Journal articleBowling S, Di Gregorio A, Sancho M, et al., 2018,
Author correction: P53 and mTOR signalling determine fitness selection through cell competition during early mouse embryonic development
, Nature Communications, Vol: 9, ISSN: 2041-1723The original version of this Article contained an error in the spelling of Juan Pedro Martinez-Barbera, which was incorrectly given as Juan Pedro Martinez Barbera. This error has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.
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Journal articleWillis A, Lo Celso C, Filloux A, et al., 2018,
Shigella-induced emergency granulopoiesis protects zebrafish larvae from secondary infection
, mBio, Vol: 9, ISSN: 2150-7511Emergency granulopoiesis is a hematopoietic program of stem cell-driven neutrophil production used to counteract immune cell exhaustion following infection. Shigella flexneri is a Gram-negative enteroinvasive pathogen controlled by neutrophils. In this study, we use a Shigella-zebrafish (Danio rerio) infection model to investigate emergency granulopoiesis in vivo. We show that stem cell-driven neutrophil production occurs in response to Shigella infection and requires macrophage-independent signaling by granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (Gcsf). To test whether emergency granulopoiesis can function beyond homoeostasis to enhance innate immunity, we developed a reinfection assay using zebrafish larvae that have not yet developed an adaptive immune system. Strikingly, larvae primed with a sublethal dose of Shigella are protected against a secondary lethal dose of Shigella in a type III secretion system (T3SS)-dependent manner. Collectively, these results highlight a new role for emergency granulopoiesis in boosting host defense and demonstrate that zebrafish larvae can be a valuable in vivo model to investigate innate immune memory.IMPORTANCE Shigella is an important human pathogen of the gut. Emergency granulopoiesis is the enhanced production of neutrophils by hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) upon infection and is widely considered a homoeostatic mechanism for replacing exhausted leukocytes. In this study, we developed a Shigella-zebrafish infection model to investigate stem cell-driven emergency granulopoiesis. We discovered that zebrafish initiate granulopoiesis in response to Shigella infection, via macrophage-independent signaling of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (Gcsf). Strikingly, larvae primed with a sublethal dose of Shigella are protected against a secondary lethal dose of Shigella in a type III secretion system (T3SS)-dependent manner. Taken together, we show that zebrafish infection can be used to capture Shigella-mediated stem c
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Journal articleKapnisi M, Mansfield C, Marijon C, et al., 2018,
Auxetic cardiac patches with tunable mechanical and conductive properties toward treating myocardial infarction
, Advanced Functional Materials, Vol: 28, ISSN: 1616-301XAn auxetic conductive cardiac patch (AuxCP) for the treatment of myocardial infarction (MI) is introduced. The auxetic design gives the patch a negative Poisson's ratio, providing it with the ability to conform to the demanding mechanics of the heart. The conductivity allows the patch to interface with electroresponsive tissues such as the heart. Excimer laser microablation is used to micropattern a re‐entrant honeycomb (bow‐tie) design into a chitosan‐polyaniline composite. It is shown that the bow‐tie design can produce patches with a wide range in mechanical strength and anisotropy, which can be tuned to match native heart tissue. Further, the auxetic patches are conductive and cytocompatible with murine neonatal cardiomyocytes in vitro. Ex vivo studies demonstrate that the auxetic patches have no detrimental effect on the electrophysiology of both healthy and MI rat hearts and conform better to native heart movements than unpatterned patches of the same material. Finally, the AuxCP applied in a rat MI model results in no detrimental effect on cardiac function and negligible fibrotic response after two weeks in vivo. This approach represents a versatile and robust platform for cardiac biomaterial design and could therefore lead to a promising treatment for MI.
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Journal articleBowling S, Di Gregorio A, Sancho M, et al., 2018,
P53 and mTOR signalling determine fitness selection through cell competition during early mouse embryonic development
, Nature Communications, Vol: 9, ISSN: 2041-1723Ensuring the fitness of the pluripotent cells that will contribute to future development is important both for the integrity of the germline and for proper embryogenesis. Consequently, it is becoming increasingly apparent that pluripotent cells can compare their fitness levels and signal the elimination of those cells that are less fit than their neighbours. In mammals the nature of the pathways that communicate fitness remain largely unknown. Here we identify that in the early mouse embryo and upon exit from naive pluripotency, the confrontation of cells with different fitness levels leads to an inhibition of mTOR signalling in the less fit cell type, causing its elimination. We show that during this process, p53 acts upstream of mTOR and is required to repress its activity. Finally, we demonstrate that during normal development around 35% of cells are eliminated by this pathway, highlighting the importance of this mechanism for embryonic development.
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Journal articleKhan AB, Carpenter B, Santos e Sousa P, et al., 2018,
Redirection to the bone marrow improves T cell persistence and antitumor functions
, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Vol: 128, Pages: 2010-2024, ISSN: 0021-9738A key predictor for the success of gene-modified T cell therapies for cancer is the persistence of transferred cells in the patient. The propensity of less differentiated memory T cells to expand and survive efficiently has therefore made them attractive candidates for clinical application. We hypothesized that redirecting T cells to specialized niches in the BM that support memory differentiation would confer increased therapeutic efficacy. We show that overexpression of chemokine receptor CXCR4 in CD8+ T cells (TCXCR4) enhanced their migration toward vascular-associated CXCL12+ cells in the BM and increased their local engraftment. Increased access of TCXCR4 to the BM microenvironment induced IL-15–dependent homeostatic expansion and promoted the differentiation of memory precursor–like cells with low expression of programmed death-1, resistance to apoptosis, and a heightened capacity to generate polyfunctional cytokine-producing effector cells. Following transfer to lymphoma-bearing mice, TCXCR4 showed a greater capacity for effector expansion and better tumor protection, the latter being independent of changes in trafficking to the tumor bed or local out-competition of regulatory T cells. Thus, redirected homing of T cells to the BM confers increased memory differentiation and antitumor immunity, suggesting an innovative solution to increase the persistence and functions of therapeutic T cells.
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Conference paperFoldes G, Lawlor K, Harding SE, et al., 2018,
STAT3 mediates differentiation and maintenance of human pluripotent stem-derived endothelial cells
, 5th Congress of the ESC-Council-on-Basic-Cardiovascular-Science on Frontiers in Cardio Vascular Biology, Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS, Pages: S39-S39, ISSN: 0008-6363Background: High plasticity derivatives of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) such as embryonic stem cells (hESC) are being intensively developed for their use in endothelial replacement.Methods/Results: In this study, we found that transient addition of Activin A, followed by culture with VEGF165, BMP4 and FGF2 was an effective mechanism to induce differentiation of hESC toward the endothelial lineage. Indeed, human GeneChip microarray analysis revealed that endothelial gene regulatory networks were gradually increased during 12 days of differentiation. Isolated hESC-derived endothelial cells (hESC-EC) expressed mature endothelial-associated genes, including CD31, NRP1, VE-cadherin, Tie2, VWF and ICAM2, reaching levels comparable with human umbilical cord vascular endothelial cells by day 19. We found that a network of CD31+ tubes comprising endothelial precursor cells had formed in culture from 10 days after start of differentiation of hESC. As assessed by automated high content microscopy, the alignment and tube formation of the newly formed CD31+ vascular network were markedly decreased in response to C188-9, a novel small molecule inhibitor of STAT3 transcription factor (tube length: 57%, connected tube area: 22% of those in control, both p<0.001). Human ESC-EC were capable of transdifferentiating into mesenchymal cells in long-term cultures. Endothelial-mesenchymal transition was characterised by gradual loss of endothelial marker expression and increased mesenchymal marker FSP1 expression. We found that inhibition of STAT3 tyr705 phosphorylation by C188-9 resulted in a decreased proliferation of FSP1+ mesenchymal cells (2-fold decrease in Ki67%-positive population, p<0.001), and subsequently reduced number of FSP+ cells (36% reduction, p<0.05). At the same time, C188-9 increased the number of CD31+ hESC-EC by 30% (p=0.05, n=6). Viability remained unchanged in C188-9-treated cells (Topro3 necrosis marker, p=0.32, n=3).Conclusions: These results sugge
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Conference paperHusveth-Toth M, Gara E, Nemes A, et al., 2018,
Human pluripotent stem cell-derived endothelial cells are vasoactive in vitro and capable of engineering 3D vascular grafts
, 5th Congress of the ESC-Council-on-Basic-Cardiovascular-Science on Frontiers in Cardio Vascular Biology, Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP), Pages: S111-S111, ISSN: 1755-3245 -
Journal articleLo Celso C, Akinduro O, Weber TS, et al., 2018,
Proliferation dynamics of acute myeloid leukaemia and haematopoietic progenitors competing for bone marrow space
, Nature Communications, Vol: 9, Pages: 1-12, ISSN: 2041-1723Leukaemia progressively invades bone marrow (BM), outcompeting healthy haematopoiesis by mechanisms that are not fully understood. Combining cell number measurements with a short-timescale dual pulse labelling method, we simultaneously determine the proliferation dynamics of primitive haematopoietic compartments and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). We observe an unchanging proportion of AML cells entering S phase per hour throughout disease progression, with substantial BM egress at high levels of infiltration. For healthy haematopoiesis, we find haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) make a significant contribution to cell production, but we phenotypically identify a quiescent subpopulation with enhanced engraftment ability. During AML progression, we observe that multipotent progenitors maintain a constant proportion entering S phase per hour, despite a dramatic decrease in the overall population size. Primitive populations are lost from BM with kinetics that are consistent with ousting irrespective of cell cycle state, with the exception of the quiescent HSC subpopulation, which is more resistant to elimination.
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Journal articleLo Celso C, Hawkins ED, Akinduro O, et al., 2017,
Inhibition of endosteal vascular niche remodeling rescues hematopoietic stem cell loss in AML
, Cell Stem Cell, Vol: 22, Pages: 64-77.e6, ISSN: 1875-9777Bone marrow vascular niches sustain hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and are drastically remodeled in leukemia to support pathological functions. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells produce angiogenic factors, which likely contribute to this remodeling, but anti-angiogenic therapies do not improve AML patient outcomes. Using intravital microscopy, we found that AML progression leads to differential remodeling of vasculature in central and endosteal bone marrow regions. Endosteal AML cells produce pro-inflammatory and anti-angiogenic cytokines and gradually degrade endosteal endothelium, stromal cells, and osteoblastic cells, whereas central marrow remains vascularized and splenic vascular niches expand. Remodeled endosteal regions have reduced capacity to support non-leukemic HSCs, correlating with loss of normal hematopoiesis. Preserving endosteal endothelium with the small molecule deferoxamine or a genetic approach rescues HSCs loss, promotes chemotherapeutic efficacy, and enhances survival. These findings suggest that preventing degradation of the endosteal vasculature may improve current paradigms for treating AML.
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Journal articleChow A, Stuckey DJ, Kidher E, et al., 2017,
Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocyte Encapsulating Bioactive Hydrogels Improve Rat Heart Function Post Myocardial Infarction.
, Stem Cell Reports, Vol: 9, Pages: 1415-1422, ISSN: 2213-6711Tissue engineering offers an exciting possibility for cardiac repair post myocardial infarction. We assessed the effects of combined polyethylene glycol hydrogel (PEG), human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte (iPSC-CM), and erythropoietin (EPO) therapy in a rat model of myocardial infarction. PEG with/out iPSC-CMs and EPO; iPSC-CMs in saline; or saline alone was injected into infarcted hearts shortly after infarction. Injection of almost any combination of the therapeutics limited acute elevations in chamber volumes. After 10 weeks, attenuation of ventricular remodeling was identified in all groups that received PEG injections, while ejection fractions were significantly increased in the gel-EPO, cell, and gel-cell-EPO groups. In all treatment groups, infarct thickness was increased and regions of muscle were identified within the scar. However, no grafted cells were detected. Hence, iPSC-CM-encapsulating bioactive hydrogel therapy can improve cardiac function post myocardial infarction and increase infarct thickness and muscle content despite a lack of sustained donor-cell engraftment.
This data is extracted from the Web of Science and reproduced under a licence from Thomson Reuters. You may not copy or re-distribute this data in whole or in part without the written consent of the Science business of Thomson Reuters.
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