Impact of various culture conditions on ex vivo expansion of polyclonal T cells for adoptive immunotherapy

Currently, adoptive immunotherapy is considered as one of the leading treatments in cancer. Successful adoptive immunotherapy depends on producing large numbers of desired T cells ex vivo for infusion. This requires an effective protocol for maximum functional T‐cell expansion while keeping the time and costs to a minimum. Current T‐cell expansion protocols are diverse in their methodology, and a universal protocol of expansion is wanting. Also, new findings regarding T‐cell biology, signaling, and activation have reshaped the strategies of T‐cell propagation over the years, introducing new ways to expand T cells. Here, we reviewed different conditions for blood‐derived polyclonal T‐cell expansion so as to elucidate the influential factors of T‐cell expansion and their efficacy.     

Small molecule inhibitor of TLR4 inhibits ovarian cancer cell proliferation: new insight into the anticancer effect of TAK-242 (Resatorvid)

Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology - Despite all advances in the treatment of ovarian cancer (OC), it remains the most lethal gynecological malignancy worldwide. There are growing amounts of...     

The effects of smoking on corneal endothelial cells: a cross-sectional study on a population from Isfahan,Iran

Purpose: The aim of this study is to compare the effect of smoking in corneal endothelial cell number and morphology by specular microscopy on a non-smoker population.

Methods: Our cross-sectional study was performed on 150 participants from a non-smoker population. Non-contact specular microscopy (Tomey Corporation Inc., Nagoya, Japan) was performed in the center of the cornea of all subjects. The cell density (CD), average cell size (AVG), percent of hexagonality (HEX%) and central corneal thickness (CCT) were calculated and compared in both groups.

Results: Totally, 76 eyes of 76 smokers and 74 eyes of 74 non-smokers were enrolled in the study from 2015 to 2016. The mean age of smokers and non-smokers were 48.61?±?17.04 and 46.39?±?13.02, respectively. The mean number of pack/year among the smokers was 17.36?±?14.68. Also, the mean values of AVG and CD were significantly different for these two groups (p?=?0.011 and p?=?0.039, respectively). Other corneal endothelial variables did not show a significant difference between smokers and non-smokers (p?>?0.05). However, smokers with severe nicotine dependency had significantly greater AVG and lower CD in comparison with the non-smokers (p?=?0.004 and p?=?0.013, respectively).

Conclusion: Our study showed that smoking can cause significant changes in some of the corneal endothelial variables, but not all of them.     

Inhibition of microglial activity alters spinal wide dynamic range neuron discharge and reduces microglial Toll‐like receptor 4 expression in neuropathic rats

It is believed that neuropathic pain results from aberrant neuronal discharges although some evidence suggests that the activation of glia cells contributes to pain after an injury to the nervous system. This study aimed to evaluate the role of microglial activation on the hyper‐responsiveness of wide dynamic range neurons (WDR) and Toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4) expressions in a chronic constriction injury (CCI) model of neuropathic pain in rats. Adult male Wistar rats (230 ± 30 g) underwent surgery for induction of CCI neuropathy. Six days after surgery, administration of minocycline (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg, i.p.) was initiated and continued until day 14. After administration of the last dose of minocycline or saline, a behavioral test was conducted, then animals were sacrificed and lumbar segments of the spinal cord were collected for Western blot analysis of TLR4 expression. The electrophysiological properties of WDR neurons were investigated by single unit recordings in separate groups. The findings showed that after CCI, in parallel with thermal hyperalgesia, the expression of TLR4 in the spinal cord and the evoked response of the WDR neurons to electrical, mechanical, and thermal stimulation significantly increased. Post‐injury administration of minocycline effectively decreased thermal hyperalgesia, TLR4 expression, and hyper‐responsiveness of WDR neurons in CCI rats. The results of this study indicate that post‐injury, repeated administration of minocycline attenuated neuropathic pain by suppressing microglia activation and reducing WDR neuron hyper‐responsiveness. This study confirms that post‐injury modulation of microglial activity is a new strategy for treating neuropathic pain.     

Congenital aortocaval fistula between right aortic sinus of Valsalva and superior vena cava: A rare case report

Thoracic aortocaval fistula is a very rare cause of left to right shunt. Drainage of fistula into the superior vena cava (SVC) is very uncommon. Clinical symptoms depend on the size of the shunt. We report a rare case of an asymptomatic 27‐year‐old woman with congenital aortocaval fistula to the SVC with a small amount of left to right shunt that was considered for serial medical follow‐up.     

A contactless electrical stimulator: application to fabricate functional skeletal muscle tissue

Engineered skeletal muscle tissues are ideal candidates for applications in drug screening systems, bio-actuators, and as implantable constructs in tissue engineering. Electrical field stimulation considerably improves the differentiation of muscle cells to muscle myofibers. Currently used electrical stimulators often use direct contact of electrodes with tissue constructs or their culture medium, which may cause hydrolysis of the culture medium, joule heating of the medium, contamination of the culture medium due to products of electrodes corrosion, and surface fouling of electrodes. Here, we used an interdigitated array of electrodes combined with an isolator coverslip as a contactless platform to electrically stimulate engineered muscle tissue, which eliminates the aforementioned problems. The effective stimulation of muscle myofibers using this device was demonstrated in terms of contractile activity and higher maturation as compared to muscle tissues without applying the electrical field. Due to the wide array of potential applications of electrical stimulation to two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) cell and tissue constructs, this device could be of great interest for a variety of biological applications as a tool to create noninvasive, safe, and highly reproducible electric fields.