Mast Cell Infiltration and Subtype Promote Malignant Transformation of Oral Precancer and Progression of Oral Cancer.

The role of mast cell (MC), a common myeloid-derived immune cell, in the development of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate MC infiltration in oral precancer and oral cancer. The evaluation of immune cell infiltration and its association with prognosis in OSCC used RNA sequencing and multiple public datasets. Multiplex immunofluorescence was used to explore the infiltration of MC in the microenvironment of OSCC and oral precancer and the interaction with CD8+ cells. The role of MC in OSCC progression was verified by in vivo experiments. The resting MC infiltration was mainly present in oral precancer, whereas activated MC infiltration was significantly higher in OSCC. Activated MC was associated with malignant transformation of oral precancer and poor prognosis of OSCC. In vivo studies showed that MC promoted the growth of OSCC. The infiltration of activated MC was negatively correlated with the infiltration of CD8+ T cells. The subtype of MC containing tryptase without chymase (MCT) was significantly higher in OSCC compared with oral precancer and was associated with poor survival. Furthermore, spatial distance analysis revealed a greater distance between MCT and CD8+ cells, which was also linked to poor prognosis in OSCC. Cox regression analysis showed that MCT could be a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker. This study provides new insights into the role of MC in the immune microenvironment of OSCC. It might enhance the immunotherapeutic efficacy of OSCC by developing targeted therapies against MC. SIGNIFICANCE: In this study, we investigated the role of mast cells (MC) in oral precancer and oral cancer and demonstrated that MCs are involved in oral cancer progression and may serve as a potential diagnostic and prognostic marker. It might improve the immunotherapeutic efficacy through developing targeted therapies against MCs.

Reducing the Allergenicity of ß-Lactoglobulin by Covalent Modification with Different Contents of Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG): In Vitro and In Vivo Studies.

ß-Lactoglobulin (ßLG) is a major allergen in bovine milk protein. This study was designed to investigate changes in ßLG structure, digestibility, and allergenicity induced by covalent binding modification with different contents of (-)-epigallocatechin 3-gallate (EGCG). The reaction of EGCG conjugation with ßLG reached saturation at a molar ratio of 1:60 ßLG:EGCG. Conjugation with EGCG altered the ßLG structure, decreased IgE-binding capacity, and increased digestibility in a dose-dependent manner. In vivo studies showed that covalent conjugation with EGCG can reduce ßLG-induced allergic symptoms with reducing levels of IgE, histamine, and mast cell protease-1 (mMCP-1) and the percentage of sensitized mast cells. Allergenicity was reduced more effectively in saturated ßLG-EGCG conjugates compared to semisaturated conjugates. Observed changes in IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, and TGF-ß levels suggested that ßLG-EGCG conjugates were able to promote Th1/Th2 immune balance. These findings further our understanding of the relationship between the degree of polyphenol conjugation and the allergenicity of food allergens.

Renalase peptides reduce pancreatitis severity in mice.

Acute pancreatitis, an acute inflammatory injury of the pancreas, lacks a specific treatment. The circulatory protein renalase is produced by the kidney and other tissues and has potent anti-inflammatory and prosurvival properties. Recombinant renalase can reduce the severity of mild cerulein pancreatitis; the activity is contained in a conserved 20 aa renalase site (RP220). Here, we investigated the therapeutic effects of renalase on pancreatitis using two clinically relevant models of acute pancreatitis. The ability of peptides containing the RP220 site to reduce injury in a 1-day post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and a 2-day severe cerulein induced in mice was examined. The initial dose of renalase peptides was given either prophylactically (before) or therapeutically (after) the initiation of the disease. Samples were collected to determine early pancreatitis responses (tissue edema, plasma amylase, active zymogens) and later histologic tissue injury and inflammatory changes. In both preclinical models, renalase peptides significantly reduced histologic damage associated with pancreatitis, especially inflammation, necrosis, and overall injury. Quantifying inflammation using specific immunohistochemical markers demonstrated that renalase peptides significantly reduced overall bone marrow-derived inflammation and neutrophils and macrophage populations in both models. In the severe cerulein model, administering a renalase peptide with or without pretreatment significantly reduced injury. Pancreatitis and renalase peptide effects appeared to be the same in female and male mice. These studies suggest renalase peptides that retain the anti-inflammatory and prosurvival properties of recombinant renalase can reduce the severity of acute pancreatitis and might be attractive candidates for therapeutic development.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Renalase is a secretory protein. The prosurvival and anti-inflammatory effects of the whole molecule are contained in a 20 aa renalase site (RP220). Systemic treatment with peptides containing this renalase site reduced the severity of post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and severe cerulein pancreatitis in mouse models.

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) inhibits cardiac mast cells activation and improves myocardial atrophy after ischemic stroke.

BACKGROUND: Ischemic stroke is one of the leading causes of chronic disability worldwide, and stroke-induced heart damage can lead to death. According to research, patients with a variety of brain disease have good clinical results after vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). After ischemic stroke, mast cells (MCs) degranulate and release a large number of mediators, which may cause systemic inflammation. Chymase secreted by MCs can increase the levels of pathological angiotensin II (AngⅡ), which plays a crucial role in the deterioration of heart disease. Our goal was to develop a minimally invasive, targeted, and convenient VNS approach to assess the impact of VNS and to clarify the relationship between VNS and MCs in the prognosis of patients with myocardial atrophy after acute ischemic stroke. METHODS: In this study, we verified the role of VNS in the treatment of myocardial atrophy after stroke and its molecular mechanism using a rat model of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO/r). Behavioral studies were assessed using neurobehavioral deficit scores. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, immunofluorescence staining, Western blotting and qRT-PCR were used to analyze the expression levels of myocardial atrophy, MC and inflammatory markers in rat hearts. RESULTS: VNS improved myocardial atrophy in MCAO/r rats, inhibited MC activation, reduced the expression of chymase and AngⅡ, and inhibited the expression of proinflammatory factors. The chymase activator C48/80 reversed these effects of VNS. Chymase activation inhibited the effect of VNS on myocardial atrophy in MCAO/r rats, increased AngⅡ expression and aggravated inflammation and autophagy. The myocardial atrophy of MCAO/r rats was improved after chymase inhibition, and AngⅡ expression, inflammation and autophagy were reduced. Our results suggest that VNS may reduce the expression of chymase and AngⅡ by inhibiting MC activation, thereby improving myocardial atrophy and reducing inflammation and autophagy in MCAO/r rats. Inhibition of MC activation may be an effective strategy for treating myocardial atrophy after stroke. CONCLUSIONS: VNS inhibits MC activation and reduces the expression of chymase and AngII, thereby alleviating myocardial atrophy, inflammation and autophagy after stroke.

Histochemical and immunohistochemical investigation of the number and localization of mast cells in the feline tongue.

This is the first study to describe the subtypes, number and distribution of mast cells (MC) in cat tongue by histochemical and immunohistochemical methods. Six male adult felines' tongue tissue samples consist of the study's material. Samples were fixed in 10% formaldehyde. MC number and distribution in the feline tongue were assessed using toluidine blue. Also, sections taken from blocks were stained in alcian blue/safranin O (AB/SO) combined dyes to determine the MC subtypes. The Streptavidin biotin complex method using anti-chymase and anti-tryptase primary antibodies was used for immunohistochemistry. Metachromatic MCs were mainly observed in the lamina propria close to the multilayered keratinized stratified squamous epithelium. The high number of MCs in this region may be because the dorsal surface of the tongue plays an essential role in the defence system of tongue tissue and, thus, of the body as a whole. Additionally, the number of MCs stained with AB (+) (1.7 ± 0.08) in the feline tongue was statistically higher than those with SO (+) (0.18 ± 0.02). This might be interpreted as an indication that MC heterogeneity may be due not only to their staining properties but also to their localization. It is also conceivable that the high histamine content may be a factor in this. Tryptase-positive MCs were found in the loose connective tissue around blood vessels, between the glands, as solitary cells, or in groups of several cells. Chymase-positive MCs were observed more individually rather than in groups. Moreover, chymase-positive MCs were detected to be located in the filiform papillae subepithelial and in the blood vessels' immediate vicinity. Animals often lick themselves to clean themselves and promote healing. For this reason, it is very important to protect the tongue, which is in direct contact with the external environment, against foreign agents. Considering both the functional and protective properties of the tongue, we concluded that MCs may play a role in oral cavity immunity and protective effect.

Diagnostic and prognostic significance of mast cell markers in HIV/AIDS: Current insights and future directions.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection continues to pose significant global health challenges, necessitating advancements in diagnostic and prognostic approaches to optimize disease management. While primarily recognized for their roles in allergic responses, mast cells have emerged as potential markers with diagnostic and prognostic significance in the context of HIV/AIDS. This paper aims to synthesize current insights and delineate future directions regarding the utility of mast cell markers in diagnosing HIV infection, predicting disease progression, and guiding therapeutic strategies. Mast cells, equipped with distinct markers such as tryptase, chymase, carboxypeptidase A3, and c-kit/CD117 receptors, exhibit tissue-specific expression patterns that offer potential as diagnostic indicators for HIV infection. Understanding the dynamics of these markers in different tissues and body fluids holds promise for accurate HIV diagnosis, disease staging, and monitoring treatment responses. Moreover, the prognostic significance of mast cell markers in HIV/AIDS lies in their potential to predict disease progression, immune dysregulation, and clinical outcomes. The integration of mast cell markers into clinical applications offers promising avenues for refining diagnostic assays, patient monitoring protocols, and therapeutic strategies in HIV/AIDS. Future research directions involve the development of novel diagnostic tools and targeted therapies based on mast cell-specific markers, potentially revolutionizing clinical practice and enhancing patient care in the management of HIV/AIDS. Continued investigations into mast cell markers' diagnostic and prognostic implications hold immense potential to advance our understanding and improve outcomes in HIV/AIDS management.

Involvement of Mast Cells in the Pathology of COVID-19: Clinical and Laboratory Parallels.

Recent studies suggested the potential role of mast cells (MCs) in the pathology of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the precise description of the MCs' activation and the engagement of their proteases is still missing. The objective of this study was to further reveal the importance of MCs and their proteases (chymase, tryptase, and carboxypeptidase A3 (CPA3)) in the development of lung damage in patients with COVID-19. This study included 55 patients who died from COVID-19 and 30 controls who died from external causes. A histological analysis of the lung parenchyma was carried out to assess the protease profiles and degranulation activity of MCs. In addition, we have analyzed the general blood test, coagulogram, and C-reactive protein. The content of tryptase-positive MCs (Try-MCs) in the lungs of patients with COVID-19 was higher than in controls, but their degranulation activity was lower. The indicators of chymase-positive MCs (Chy-MCs) were significantly lower than in the controls, while the content of CPA3-positive MCs (CPA3-MCs) and their degranulation activity were higher in patients with COVID-19. In addition, we have demonstrated the existence of correlations (positive/negative) between the content of Try-MCs, Chy-MCs, and CPA3-MCs at different states of their degranulation and presence (co-adjacent/single) and the levels of various immune cells (neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, and monocytes) and other important markers (blood hemoglobin, activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), international normalized ratio (INR), and fibrinogen). Thus, the identified patterns suggest the numerous and diverse mechanisms of the participation of MCs and their proteases in the pathogenesis of COVID-19, and their impact on the inflammatory process and coagulation status. At the same time, the issue requires further study in larger cohorts of patients, which will open up the possibility of using drugs acting on this link of pathogenesis to treat lung damage in patients with COVID-19.

Bienzyme-Locked Activatable Fluorescent Probes for Specific Imaging of Tumor-Associated Mast Cells.

Tumor-associated mast cells (TAMCs) have been recently revealed to play a multifaceted role in the tumor microenvironment. Noninvasive optical imaging of TAMCs is thus highly desired to gain insights into their functions in cancer immunotherapy. However, due to the lack of a single enzyme that is specific to mast cells, a common probe design approach based on single-enzyme activation is not applicable. Herein, we reported a bienzyme-locked molecular probe (THCMC) based on a photoinduced electron transfer-intramolecular charge-transfer hybrid strategy for in vivo imaging of TAMCs. The bienzyme-locked activation mechanism ensures that THCMC exclusively turns on near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence only in the presence of both tryptase and chymase specifically coexpressed by mast cells. Thus, THCMC effectively distinguishes mast cells from other leukocytes, including T cells, neutrophils, and macrophages, a capability lacking in single-locked probes. Such a high specificity of THCMC allows noninvasive tracking of the fluctuation of TAMCs in the tumor of living mice during cancer immunotherapy. The results reveal that the decreased intratumoral signal of THCMC after combination immunotherapy correlates well with the reduced population of TAMCs, accurately predicting the inhibition of tumor growth. Thus, this study not only presents the first NIR fluorescent probe specific for TAMCs but also proposes a generic bienzyme-locked probe design approach for in vivo cell imaging.

Oral administration of egg ovalbumin allergen induces dysregulation of tryptophan metabolism in sensitized BALB/c mice.

Food allergy (FA), triggered by specific dietary allergens, has emerged as a substantial global concern for food safety and public health. While studies have elucidated changes in immune cells and cytokines associated with allergen exposure, a comprehensive analysis of the host's metabolic features and the interaction between metabolites and the gut microbiota has not been conducted. In this study, egg allergen ovalbumin (OVA) was administered by the oral route to sensitized BALB/c mice to faithfully replicate key aspects of human FA, including severe allergic diarrhea, mast cell infiltration, and elevated levels of serum IgE, mMCPT-1, and Th2 cell hallmark cytokines (such as IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13). Furthermore, the untargeted and targeted metabolomic analyses indicated that FA in mice precipitated a substantial decrease in the tryptophan metabolites indole-3-acrylic acid (IA) and indole-3-lactic acid (ILA). The integration of shotgun metagenome and metabolome data further unveiled that the dysregulation of indole metabolism is related to a decline in the abundance of beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Additionally, disruption of the tryptophan indole derivative pathway compromises the maintenance of intestinal mucosal function through the AHR signaling pathway, manifested by decreased expression of Reg3g and IL22. Taken together, this study demonstrated that the anaphylaxis triggered by oral ingestion of food allergens can lead to disruptions in tryptophan metabolism, consequently impairing intestinal immune homeostasis.

Characterization of novel truncated apolipoprotein A-I in human high-density lipoprotein generated by sequential treatment with myeloperoxidase and chymase.

High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is a well-known biomarker, which has been associated with reduction in the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). However, some HDL anti-atherosclerotic functions may be impaired without altered HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) level via its dysfunctional proteins or other physiological reactions in vivo. We previously showed that activated mast cell-derived chymase could modestly cleave apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) in HDL3, and further easily cleave lipid-free apoA-I. In contrast, myeloperoxidase (MPO) secreted by macrophages, the main cell type in atherosclerotic plaques, could oxidize HDL proteins, which might modify their tertiary structures, increasing their susceptibility to other enzymes. Here we focused on the co-modification and impact of chymase and MPO, usually secreted during inflammation from cells with possible co-existence in atheromas, on HDL. Only after sequential treatment with MPO and then chymase, two novel truncated apoA-I fragments were generated from HDL. One fragment was 16.5 kDa, and the cleavage site by chymase after MPO modification was the C-terminal of Tyr100 in apoA-I, cross-validated by three different mass spectrometry methods. This novel apoA-I fragment can be trapped in HDL particles to avoid kidney glomerular filtration and has a specific site for antibody generation for ELISA tests. As such, its quantification can be useful in predicting patients with CVD having normal HDL-C levels.

Human vascular smooth muscle cells utilise chymase for the atypical cleavage and activation of Interleukin-1ß.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are well established to be both instigated and worsened by inflammation. Indeed, CANTOS formally proved that targeting the inflammatory cytokine IL-1ß only could reduce both cardiovascular events and death. However, due to the central role of IL-1ß in host defence, blockade increased fatal infections, suggesting targeting key immune mediators over the long natural history of CVD is unsuitable. Thus, discovering alternative mechanisms that generate vascular inflammation may identify more actionable targets. METHODS: We used primary human VSMCs and a combination of biochemical, pharmacological and molecular biological techniques to generate the data. Human carotid atherosclerotic plaques were also assessed histologically. RESULTS: We showed that VSMCs expressed and efficiently processed pro-IL-1ß to the active form after receiving a single stimulus via IL-1R1 or TLR4. Importantly, pro-IL-1ß processing did not utilise inflammasomes or caspases. Unusually, we found that cathepsin C-activated chymase was responsible for cleaving IL-1ß in VSMCs, and provided evidence for chymase expression in cultured VSMCs and in the fibrous cap of human plaques. Chymase also efficiently cleaved and activated recombinant pro-IL-1ß. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, VSMCs are efficient activators of IL-1ß that do not use canonical inflammasomes or caspases. Hence, this alternative pathway could be targeted for long-term treatment of CVDs, as it is not central to everyday host defence.

Is chymase 1 a therapeutic target in cardiovascular disease?

INTRODUCTION: Non-angiotensin converting enzyme mechanisms of angiotensin II production remain underappreciated in part due to the success of current therapies to ameliorate the impact of primary hypertension and atherosclerotic diseases of the heart and the blood vessels. This review scrutinize the current literature to highlight chymase role as a critical participant in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease and heart failure. AREAS COVERED: We review the contemporaneous understanding of circulating and tissue biotransformation mechanisms of the angiotensins focusing on the role of chymase as an alternate tissue generating pathway for angiotensin II pathological mechanisms of action. EXPERT OPINION: While robust literature documents the singularity of chymase as an angiotensin II-forming enzyme, particularly when angiotensin converting enzyme is inhibited, this knowledge has not been fully recognized to clinical medicine. This review discusses the limitations of clinical trials' that explored the benefits of chymase inhibition in accounting for the failure to duplicate in humans what has been demonstrated in experimental animals.

Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Stimulates Secretion of Chymase, Tryptase, and IL-1ß from Human Mast Cells, Augmented by IL-33.

SARS-CoV-2 infects cells via its spike (S) protein binding to its surface receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and results in the production of multiple proinflammatory cytokines, especially in the lungs, leading to what is known as COVID-19. However, the cell source and the mechanism of secretion of such cytokines have not been adequately characterized. In this study, we used human cultured mast cells that are plentiful in the lungs and showed that recombinant SARS-CoV-2 full-length S protein (1-10 ng/mL), but not its receptor-binding domain (RBD), stimulates the secretion of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) as well as the proteolytic enzymes chymase and tryptase. The secretion of IL-1ß, chymase, and tryptase is augmented by the co-administration of interleukin-33 (IL-33) (30 ng/mL). This effect is mediated via toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) for IL-1ß and via ACE2 for chymase and tryptase. These results provide evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 S protein contributes to inflammation by stimulating mast cells through different receptors and could lead to new targeted treatment approaches.

Identification and quantification of degradome components in human synovial fluid reveals an increased proteolytic activity in knee osteoarthritis patients vs controls.

Synovial fluid (SF) may contain cleavage products of proteolytic activities. Our aim was to characterize the degradome through analysis of proteolytic activity and differential abundance of these components in a peptidomic analysis of SF in knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients versus controls (n = 23). SF samples from end-stage knee osteoarthritis patients undergoing total knee replacement surgery and controls, that is, deceased donors without known knee disease were previously run using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS). This data was used to perform new database searches generating results for non-tryptic and semi-tryptic peptides for studies of degradomics in OA. We used linear mixed models to estimate differences in peptide-level expression between the two groups. Known proteolytic events (from the MEROPS peptidase database) were mapped to the dataset, allowing the identification of potential proteases and which substrates they cleave. We also developed a peptide-centric R tool, proteasy, which facilitates analyses that involve retrieval and mapping of proteolytic events. We identified 429 differentially abundant peptides. We found that the increased abundance of cleaved APOA1 peptides is likely a consequence of enzymatic degradation by metalloproteinases and chymase. We identified metalloproteinase, chymase, and cathepsins as the main proteolytic actors. The analysis indicated increased activity of these proteases irrespective of their abundance.

Analysis of human lung mast cells by single cell RNA sequencing.

Mast cells are tissue-resident cells playing major roles in homeostasis and disease conditions. Lung mast cells are particularly important in airway inflammatory diseases such as asthma. Human mast cells are classically divided into the subsets MCT and MCTC, where MCT express the mast cell protease tryptase and MCTC in addition express chymase, carboxypeptidase A3 (CPA3) and cathepsin G. Apart from the disctintion of the MCT and MCTC subsets, little is known about the heterogeniety of human lung mast cells and a deep analysis of their heterogeniety has previously not been performed. We therefore performed single cell RNA sequencing on sorted human lung mast cells using SmartSeq2. The mast cells showed high expression of classical mast cell markers. The expression of several individual genes varied considerably among the cells, however, no subpopulations were detected by unbiased clustering. Variable genes included the protease-encoding transcripts CMA1 (chymase) and CTSG (cathepsin G). Human lung mast cells are predominantly of the MCT subset and consistent with this, the expression of CMA1 was only detectable in a small proportion of the cells, and correlated moderately to CTSG. However, in contrast to established data for the protein, CPA3 mRNA was high in all cells and the correlation of CPA3 to CMA1 was weak.

Galectin-3, a damage-associated molecular pattern, in tears of patients with vernal keratoconjunctivitis.

PURPOSE: Galectin-3 is a damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMPs), released from damaged or dying cells. In this study, we investigated the concentration and source of galectin-3 in the tears of patients with vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) and evaluated whether the concentration of galectin-3 in tears represents a biomarker of corneal epithelial damage. STUDY DESIGN: Clinical and experimental. METHODS: We measured the concentration of galectin-3 in tear samples from 26 patients with VKC and 6 healthy controls by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The expression of galectin-3 in cultured human corneal epithelial cells (HCEs) stimulated with or without tryptase or chymase was investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), ELISA, and Western blotting. We also estimated the concentration of galectin-3 in the supernatants of cultured HCEs induced to necrosis. Finally, we investigated whether recombinant galectin-3 induced the expression of various genes related to cell migration or the cell cycle in HCEs by using microarray analysis. RESULTS: High concentrations of galectin-3 were detected in the tears of patients with VKC. The concentration showed significant correlation with the severity of corneal epithelial damage. Stimulation of cultured HCEs with various concentrations of tryptase or chymase had no effect on the expression of galectin-3. However, high concentrations of galectin-3 were detected in the supernatants of necrotic HCEs. Recombinant human galectin-3 induced various cell migration- and cell cycle-related genes. CONCLUSION: The concentrations of galectin-3 in the tears of patients with VKC may represent a biomarker of the severity of corneal epithelial damage.

Chymase Inhibition Resolves and Prevents Deep Vein Thrombosis Without Increasing Bleeding Time in the Mouse Model.

Background Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is the primary cause of pulmonary embolism and the third most life-threatening cardiovascular disease in North America. Post-DVT anticoagulants, such as warfarin, heparin, and direct oral anticoagulants, reduce the incidence of subsequent venous thrombi. However, all currently used anticoagulants affect bleeding time at various degrees, and there is therefore a need for improved therapeutic regimens in DVT. It has recently been shown that mast cells play a crucial role in a DVT murine model. The underlying mechanism involved in the prothrombotic properties of mast cells, however, has yet to be identified. Methods and Results C57BL/6 mice and mouse mast cell protease-4 (mMCP-4) genetically depleted mice (mMCP-4 knockout) were used in 2 mouse models of DVT, partial ligation (stenosis) and ferric chloride-endothelial injury model of the inferior vena cava. Thrombus formation and impact of genetically repressed or pharmacologically (specific inhibitor TY-51469) inhibited mMCP-4 were evaluated by morphometric measurements of thrombi immunochemistry (mouse and human DVT), color Doppler ultrasound, bleeding times, and enzymatic activity assays ex vivo. Recombinant chymases, mMCP-4 (mouse) and CMA-1 (human), were used to characterize the interaction with murine and human plasmin, respectively, by mass spectrometry and enzymatic activity assays. Inhibiting mast cell-generated mMCP-4, genetically or pharmacologically, resolves and prevents venous thrombus formation in both DVT models. Inferior vena cava blood flow obstruction was observed in the stenosis model after 6 hours of ligation, in control- but not in TY-51469-treated mice. In addition, chymase inhibition had no impact on bleeding times of healthy or DVT mice. Furthermore, endogenous chymase limits plasmin activity in thrombi ex vivo. Recombinant mouse or human chymase degrades/inactivates purified plasmin in vitro. Finally, mast cell-containing immunoreactive chymase was identified in human DVT. Conclusions This study identified a major role for mMCP-4, a granule-localized protease of chymase type, in DVT formation. These findings support a novel pharmacological strategy to resolve or prevent DVT without affecting the coagulation cascade through the inhibition of chymase activity.

Human milk oligosaccharide disialyllacto-n-tetraose protects human intestinal epithelium integrity and permeability against mast cell chymase-induced disruption by stabilizing ZO-1/FAK/P38 pathway of intestinal epithelial cell.

CONTEXT: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic gut disease with intestinal-epithelium disruption. Mast cell (MC) has been discussed in IBD studies, but its subset MCTC (chymase/tryptase) and MC-chymase have not been well-explored extensively. Human-milk-oligosaccharide-Disialyllacto-N-Tetraose (DSLNT) was reported as an effective strategy to protect infants against IBD with unclear mechanism. OBJECTIVE: This study was to examine the distribution of chymase-positive mast cells in the intestinal-epithelium-tissue of IBD infants, to explore the MC-chymase function on intestinal-epithelium, and to investigate the influences of DSLNT against MC-chymase-induced disruptions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The intestinal-biopsies (surgical-waste) of the infants with IBD or with intestinal-atresia (non-IBD) were paraffin-embedded for immunohistochemistry. In-situ intestinal-tissue model and in-vitro human-intestinal-epithelial-cell (Caco-2) model were established with or without the treatments of MC-chymase (50mU/mL), DSLNT (600 µM) and DSLNT + MC-chymase respectively. The tissue morphology analysis, cell proliferation assay, cell-gap-closure assessment, fluorescence-immunocytochemistry, western blot, trans-epithelial-electrical-resistance, cell-cycle and statistical analysis were applied. RESULTS: There was an increased number of MCTC subset around the inflamed intestinal area in-vivo; MC-chymase caused intestinal-epithelial-barrier damage in-situ, decreased trans-epithelial-electrical-resistance of caco-2 cell monolayer in-vitro; while DSLNT protected epithelium against MC-chymase induced disruptions. MC-chymase reduced cell-viability, proliferation and migration, altered cell-cycle, down-regulated ZO-1, FAK, and P38 expressions, while DSLNT protected cells by impairing MC-chymase-induced interruptions. DSLNT can rescue ZO-1, FAK and P38 expressions and restore epithelial-cell integrity and cell cycle. CONCLUSIONS: Chymase-positive MCs are involved in IBD progress. MC-chymase disrupts intracellular ZO-1/FAK/P38 signal pathway and cell-cell/cell-matrix contacts, while DSLNT protects intestinal-epithelium against MC-chymase to maintain the intestinal epithelium integrity.

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunohistochemical analysis of mast cell related biochemicals in oral submucous fibrosis.

Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF), a potentially malignant disorder, is developed by progressive fibrous tissue deposition in connective tissue along with atrophy of oral mucosa. Histological sections also show the mast cell infiltration in submucosa which may indicate their possible role in this entity. Abundant availability of biochemicals in mast cells like histamine and serine proteases like chymase may be released and play specific pathways in the disease pathophysiology. Possibly, if the histamine release has some part to play, diamine oxidase may also be found to have a relationship as it metabolizes histamine. The present study is proposed to identify the presence of chymase, histamine, and diamine oxidase in both, serum as well as tissue by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) respectively. This study may provide probable insight into the mast cell-related chemicals and their association with OSMF.