Normal Pregnancy-Induced Islet Beta Cell Proliferation in Mouse Models That Are Deficient in Serotonin-Signaling.

During mouse pregnancy placental lactogens stimulate prolactin receptors on pancreatic islet beta cells to induce expression of the tryptophan hydroxylase Tph1, resulting in the synthesis and secretion of serotonin. Presently, the functional relevance of this phenomenon is unclear. One hypothesis is that serotonin-induced activation of 5-HT2B receptors on beta cells stimulates beta cell proliferation during pregnancy. We tested this hypothesis via three different mouse models: (i) total Tph1KO mice, (ii) 129P2/OlaHsd mice, which are incompetent to upregulate islet Tph1 during pregnancy, whereas Tph1 is normally expressed in the intestine, mammary glands, and placenta, and (iii) Htr2b-deficient mice. We observed normal pregnancy-induced levels of beta cell proliferation in total Tph1KO mice, 129P2/OlaHsd mice, and in Htr2b-/- mice. The three studied mouse models indicate that islet serotonin production and its signaling via 5-HT2B receptors are not required for the wave of beta cell proliferation that occurs during normal mouse pregnancy.

Pancreas and gallbladder agenesis in a newborn with semilobar holoprosencephaly, a case report.

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic agenesis is an extremely rare cause of neonatal diabetes mellitus and has enabled the discovery of several key transcription factors essential for normal pancreas and beta cell development. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of a Caucasian female with complete pancreatic agenesis occurring together with semilobar holoprosencephaly (HPE), a more common brain developmental disorder. Clinical findings were later confirmed by autopsy, which also identified agenesis of the gallbladder. Although the sequences of a selected set of genes related to pancreas agenesis or HPE were wild-type, the patient's phenotype suggests a genetic defect that emerges early in embryonic development of brain, gallbladder and pancreas. CONCLUSIONS: Developmental defects of the pancreas and brain can occur together. Identifying the genetic defect may identify a novel key regulator in beta cell development.

Xenotransplantation of purified pre-natal porcine beta cells in mice normalizes diabetes when a short anti-CD4-CD8 antibody treatment is combined with transient insulin injections.

BACKGROUND: Pre-natal porcine endocrine islet cell grafts were recently shown to contain immature beta cells with a marked potential for growth and differentiation following transplantation, and hence for a progressive and long-term correction of diabetes in immune-incompetent mice. The present study investigates whether these grafts are also capable of correcting hyperglycemia in immune-competent mice receiving a short treatment with anti-CD4-CD8 antibodies. METHODS: Pure endocrine islet cell grafts with 0.5 to 1.0 million beta cells were prepared from pre-natal pigs and transplanted under the kidney capsule of alloxan-diabetic CBA/Ca mice. Survival, growth and function of implanted beta cells were followed by measuring plasma porcine C-peptide and glucose, and graft insulin content at start and at post-transplant (PT) week 35. The effect was studied of a 5-day treatment with non-depleting anti-CD4 YTS177 and depleting anti-CD8 YTS169 antibody, either without or with transient insulin injections. RESULTS: Without antibody treatment, all graft recipients remained porcine C-peptide negative and died. Antibody treatment decreased CD4-expression and percentage CD8 cells for 10 and 18 weeks respectively. It resulted in a 30 week-survival of nine out of 14 graft recipients; all nine had progressively become C-peptide positive but only one proceeded to normoglycemia. When antibody treatment was combined with transient insulin injections, 11 out of 14 graft recipients survived long-term, eight became C-peptide positive and six were normoglycemic at PT week 30. In both groups, surviving recipients exhibited a graft insulin content that was 6- to 9-fold higher than at implantation. CONCLUSIONS: Pre-natal porcine beta cells grow and differentiate when transplanted in diabetic immune-competent mice that have been transiently immune suppressed with anti-CD4 and anti-CD8 monoclonal antibodies. They develop metabolic control when recipients are also transiently treated with insulin injections.

The role of chemotherapy in the treatment of low-grade glioma. A review of the literature.

Low-grade gliomas (LGG) are a group of uncommon neuroglial tumors of the central nervous system. They are characterized by a grade I or II according to the WHO classification. Grade I tumors are non-invasive and amenable to surgical resection with curative intent. Diffuse infiltrating LGG (WHO grade II) are tumors with a highly variable prognosis. Curative resection can only rarely be achieved and progression is characterized by transformation into a high-grade glioma (WHO grade III-IV). There are only limited evidence-based treatment recommendations for the management of progressive LGG because of a lack of data from prospective randomized trials. Most often radiotherapy is offered to patients with symptomatic and/or progressive disease. Three randomized trials have failed to demonstrate a survival improvement with either early versus delayed radiation or with a higher dose of radiation. The potential role of chemotherapy for the treatment of LGG has only been addressed in phase II trials. The PCV-chemotherapy regimen is associated with considerable toxicity that limits its applicability. The results with temozolomide (TMZ) chemotherapy have been more promising. Patients with chemosensitive LGG as predicted by heterozygotic loss of chromosomal arms Ip and 19q or methylation of the promoter of the MGMT-gene in the genome of the glioma cells respond to TMZ. Radiotherapy will be compared to chemotherapy asfirst line treatment for LGG in two phase III studies that are planned for by the brain tumor group of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (BTG-EORTC) and Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG).

Poly-L-Lysine Induces Fibrosis on Alginate Microcapsules via the Induction of Cytokines.

Alginate - poly-l-lysine (PLL) microcapsules can be used for transplantation of insulin-producing cells for treatment of type I diabetes. In this work we wanted to study the inflammatory reactions against implanted microcapsules due to PLL. We have seen that by reducing the PLL layer, less overgrowth of the capsule is obtained. By incubating different cell types with PLL and afterwards measuring cell viability with MTT, we found massive cell death at concentrations of PLL higher than 10 µg/ml. Staining with annexin V and propidium iodide showed that PLL induced necrosis but not apoptosis. The proinflammatory cytokine, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), was detected in supernatants from monocytes stimulated with PLL. The TNF response was partly inhibited with antibodies against CD14, which is a well-known receptor for lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Bactericidal permeability increasing protein (BPI) and a lipid A analogue (B-975), which both inhibit LPS, did not inhibit PLL from stimulating monocytes to TNF production. This indicates that PLL and LPS bind to different sites on monocytes, but because they both are inhibited by a p38 MAP kinase inhibitor, they seem to have a common element in the signal transducing pathway. These results suggest that PLL may provoke inflammatory responses either directly or indirectly through its necrosis-inducing abilities. By combining soluble PLL and alginate both the toxic and TNF-inducing effects of PLL were reduced. The implications of these data are to use alginate microcapsules with low amounts of PLL for transplantation purposes.