Interactions ofCandida albicans with bacteria and salivary molecules in oral biofilms

The yeastCandida albicans coaggregates with a variety of streptococcal species, an interaction that may promote oral colonization by yeast cells.C. albicans andCandida tropicalis are the yeasts most frequently isolated from the human oral cavity and our data demonstrate that both these species bind toStreptococcus gordonii NCTC 7869 while two otherCandida species (Candida krusei andCandida kefyr) do not. Adherence ofC. albicans was greatest when the yeast had been grown at 30° C to mid-exponential growth phase. For 21 strains ofC. albicans there was a positive correlation between the ability to adhere toS. gordonii and adherence to experimental salivary pellicle. Whole saliva either stimulated or slightly inhibited adherence ofC. albicans toS. gordonii depending on the streptococcal growth conditions. The results suggest that the major salivary adhesins and coaggregation adhesins ofC. albicans are co-expressed.     

Bone-marrow mononuclear cell therapy of severe ischemic heart failure

We describe cell therapy for severe ischemic heart failure using transendocardial injection of autologous bone-marrow-derived mononuclear cells. The treated patients had significantly less heart failure and angina, sustained significant improvement of pumping power, exercise capacity, cardiac muscle irrigation, and blood supply to the body. Electrical and mechanical mappings of the myocardium before and after the therapy, and anatomopathological examination of the myocardium of one of the patients that had deceased of a stroke eleven months after the treatment indicated sustained neoangiogenesis and improvement of activity and quantity of cardiomyocytes in the injected regions. Post-hoc analyses of injected cell phenotype and improvement of myocardial function indicate that presence of CD8+ and CD56+ cells does not correlate with good prognostics, suggesting a possibility of cell selection. For 'no-option' severe cardiac patients, significant benefits of cell therapy and absence of adverse effects may justify the application of bone-marrow-derived cell therapy.     

Bone marrow stromal cells improve cardiac performance in healed infarcted rat hearts

Postinfarct congestive heart failure is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in developed and developing countries. The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether transplantation of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC) directly into the myocardium could improve the performance of healed infarcted rat hearts. Cell culture medium with or without BMSC was injected into borders of cardiac scar tissue 4 wk after experimental infarction. Cardiac performance was evaluated 2 wk after cellular (n = 10) or medium (n = 10) injection by electro- and echocardiography. Histological study was performed 3 wk after treatment. Electrocardiography of BMSC-treated infarcted rats showed electrical and mechanical parameters more similar to those in control than in medium-treated animals: a normal frontal QRS axis in 6 of 10 BMSC-treated and all control rats and a rightward deviation of the QRS axis in all 10 medium-treated animals. BMSC treatment, assessed by echocardiography, improved fractional shortening (39.00 +/- 4.03%) compared with medium-treated hearts (18.20 +/- 0.74%) and prevented additional changes in cardiac geometry. Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed colocalization of 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole-labeled nuclei of transplanted cells with cytoskeletal markers for cardiomyocytes and smooth muscle cells, indicating regeneration of damaged myocardium and angiogenesis. These data provide strong evidence that BMSC implantation can improve cardiac performance in healed infarctions and open new promising therapeutic opportunities for patients with postinfarction heart failure.     

Loss of the CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC9 signalosome subunit 5 is sufficient to cause the cop/det/fus mutant phenotype in Arabidopsis

The COP9 signalosome (CSN) was originally identified based on the constitutively photomorphogenic/de-etiolated/fusca (cop/det/fus) mutants from Arabidopsis thaliana. CSN is evolutionary conserved, and its subunit 5 (CSN5) mediates the deconjugation of NEDD8 from the cullin subunit of E3 ubiquitin ligases (deneddylation). Here, we report on Arabidopsis mutants deficient in CSN5 function. We show that these mutants are phenotypically indistinguishable from the previously described cop/det/fus mutants of other CSN subunits. However, we also show that these mutants retain the CSN complex (lacking CSN5), and this finding is in contrast with the previously described CSN subunit mutants, which lack the CSN complex. We therefore conclude that loss of CSN5 as part of CSN is sufficient to cause the cop/det/fus mutant phenotype. Furthermore, we show that mutants defective in CSN5 as well as mutants defective in CSN are unable to deneddylate the Arabidopsis cullins AtCUL1, AtCUL3A, and AtCUL4. Because these are representative cullin subunits of the three cullin-containing E3 families present in Arabidopsis, we postulate that the cop/det/fus mutant phenotype may be the result of the defects caused by impaired CSN5-dependent deneddylation of cullin-containing E3s.     

Physiological routes from intra-uterine seminal contents to advancement of ovulation

Whole boar semen or seminal plasma has been demonstrated to advance the time of ovulation in gilts. As a means of clarifying this influence, the contribution of uterine lymphatics and their white cell populations has been examined. After duct visualisation with Evan's blue, lymph was sampled from a mesometrial vessel in eight pre-ovulatory gilts whose uterine lumen was infused simultaneously with whole semen in one ligated horn and saline in the contralateral ligated horn. Lymph was collected from cannulated vessels for periods of up to four hours under general anaesthesia. Thereafter, mesometrial lymph nodes, utero-tubal junction and uterine wall tissues were sampled. The proportion of nucleated cells in the sampled lymph increased towards the end of the collection period, but erythrocytes were found in all instances preventing a meaningful differentiation and identification of leukocytes. Prominent uterine lymph nodes were present in the mesometrium on both sides of the reproductive tract in 7 of 10 gilts. Differences in cellular contents were demonstrated between the side of the tract infused with semen and that infused with saline control. Two of 4 gilts had lower values for CD4 (Cluster Differentiation) and 3 of 6 gilts higher values for MHC II (Major Histocompatibility Complex) markers on the side challenged with semen. In contrast, values remained constant for CD8 but ranged widely for CD18. Immunohistochemical analysis of uterine tissue samples for MHC II+ cells revealed significant differences (P < 0.05) between the control and semen-treated ligated portions of the horns, as well as between the tissue sample of uterine wall and that from the utero-tubal junction, but there were no significant differences for CD4+ cells. It therefore remains plausible that semen-induced cytokines in the uterine lymph undergo counter-current transfer to the ipsilateral ovary and accelerate the final maturation of pre-ovulatory Graafian follicles.     

Multicenter randomized trial of cell therapy in cardiopathies – MiHeart Study

Background

Cardiovascular diseases are the major cause of death in the world. Current treatments have not been able to reverse this scenario, creating the need for the development of new therapies. Cell therapies have emerged as an alternative for cardiac diseases of distinct causes in experimental animal studies and more recently in clinical trials.

Method/Design

We have designed clinical trials to test for the efficacy of autologous bone marrow derived mononuclear cell therapies in four different cardiopathies: acute and chronic ischemic heart disease, and Chagasic and dilated cardiomyopathy. All trials are multicenter, randomized, double-blind and placebo controlled. In each trial 300 patients will be enrolled and receive optimized therapy for their specific condition. Additionally, half of the patients will receive the autologous bone marrow cells while the other half will receive placebo (saline with 5% autologous serum). For each trial there are specific inclusion and exclusion criteria and the method for cell delivery is intramyocardial for the chronic ischemic heart disease and intracoronary for all others. Primary endpoint for all studies will be the difference in ejection fraction (determined by Simpson's rule) six and twelve months after intervention in relation to the basal ejection fraction. The main hypothesis of this study is that the patients who receive the autologous bone-marrow stem cell implant will have after a 6 month follow-up a mean increase of 5% in absolute left ventricular ejection fraction in comparison with the control group.

Discussion

Many phase I clinical trials using cell therapy for cardiac diseases have already been performed. The few randomized studies have yielded conflicting results, rendering necessary larger well controlled trials to test for efficacy of cell therapies in cardiopathies. The trials registration numbers at the NIH registry are the following: Chagasic cardiomyopathy (NCT00349271), dilated cardiomyopathy (NCT00333827), acute myocardial infarction (NCT00350766) and Chronic Ischemic Heart Disease (NCT00362388).     

Peptide aMptD-Mediated Capture PCR for Detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in Bulk Milk Samples

A peptide-mediated capture PCR for the detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in bulk milk samples was developed and characterized. Capture of the organism was performed using peptide aMptD, which had been shown to bind to the M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis MptD protein (J. Stratmann, B. Strommenger, R. Goethe, K. Dohmann, G. F. Gerlach, K. Stevenson, L. L. Li, Q. Zhang, V. Kapur, and T. J. Bull, Infect. Immun. 72:1265-1274, 2004). Consistent expression of the MptD receptor protein and binding of the aMptD ligand were demonstrated by capturing different Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis type I and type II strains and subsequent PCR analysis using ISMav2-based primers. The analytical sensitivity of the method was determined to be 5 × 10² CFU ml⁻¹ for artificially contaminated milk. The specificity of aMptD binding was confirmed by culture and competitive capture assays, showing selective enrichment of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis (at a concentration of 5 × 10² CFU ml⁻¹) from samples containing 100- and 1,000-fold excesses of other mycobacterial species, including M. avium subsp. avium and M. avium subsp. hominissuis. The aMptD-mediated capture of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis using paramagnetic beads, followed by culture, demonstrated the ability of this approach to capture viable target cells present in artificially contaminated milk. Surface plasmon resonance experiments revealed that the aMptD peptide is a high-affinity ligand with a calculated association rate constant of 9.28 × 10³ and an association constant of 1.33 × 10⁹. The potential use of the method on untreated raw milk in the field was investigated by testing 423 bulk milk samples obtained from different dairy farms in Germany, 23 of which tested positive. Taken together, the results imply that the peptide-mediated capture PCR might present a suitable test for paratuberculosis screening of dairy herds, as it has an analytical sensitivity sufficient for detection of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis in bulk milk samples under field conditions, relies on a defined and validated ligand-receptor interaction, and is adaptable to routine diagnostic laboratory automation.