Amniotic mesenchymal cells from pre-eclamptic placentae maintain immunomodulatory features as healthy controls.

Pre-eclampsia (PE) is one of the most severe syndromes in human pregnancy, and the underlying mechanisms of PE have yet to be determined. Pre-eclampsia is characterized by the alteration of the immune system's activation status, an increase in inflammatory Th1/Th17/APC cells, and a decrease in Th2/Treg subsets/cytokines. Moreover, inflammatory infiltrates have been detected in the amniotic membranes of pre-eclamptic placentae, and to this date limited data are available regarding the role of amniotic membrane cells in PE. Interestingly, we and others have previously shown that human amniotic mesenchymal stromal cells (hAMSC) possess anti-inflammatory properties towards almost all immune cells described to be altered in PE. In this study we investigated whether the immunomodulatory properties of hAMSC were altered in PE. We performed a comprehensive study of cell phenotype and investigated the in vitro immunomodulatory properties of hAMSC isolated from pre-eclamptic pregnancies (PE-hAMSC), comparing them to hAMSC from normal pregnancies (N-hAMSC). We demonstrate that PE-hAMSC inhibit CD4/CD8 T-cell proliferation, suppress Th1/Th2/Th17 polarization, induce Treg and block dendritic cells and M1 differentiation switching them to M2 cells. Notably, PE-hAMSC generated a more prominent induction of Treg and higher suppression of interferon-γ when compared to N-hAMSC, and this was associated with higher transforming growth factor-ß1 secretion and PD-L2/PD-L1 expression in PE-hAMSC. In conclusion, for the first time we demonstrate that there is no intrinsic impairment of the immunomodulatory features of PE-hAMSC. Our results suggest that amniotic mesenchymal stromal cells do not contribute to the disease, but conversely, could participate in offsetting the inflammatory environment which characterizes PE.

Cell-cycle restriction limits DNA damage and maintains self-renewal of leukaemia stem cells.

Rare cells with the properties of stem cells are integral to the development and perpetuation of leukaemias. A defining characteristic of stem cells is their capacity to self-renew, which is markedly extended in leukaemia stem cells. The underlying molecular mechanisms, however, are largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that expression of the cell-cycle inhibitor p21 is indispensable for maintaining self-renewal of leukaemia stem cells. Expression of leukaemia-associated oncogenes in mouse haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) induces DNA damage and activates a p21-dependent cellular response, which leads to reversible cell-cycle arrest and DNA repair. Activated p21 is critical in preventing excess DNA-damage accumulation and functional exhaustion of leukaemic stem cells. These data unravel the oncogenic potential of p21 and suggest that inhibition of DNA repair mechanisms might function as potent strategy for the eradication of the slowly proliferating leukaemia stem cells.

A redox-based characterization of human immune cell subsets by polychromatic flow cytometry.

Cellular redox state determinants are traditionally studied using fluorescent microscopy and immunoblot analysis; however, no procedure has been developed for simultaneous measurement in various immune cell subsets. Here, we present a flow cytometry assay for measuring antioxidant defense systems and reactive oxygen species simultaneously in T, B, and natural killer lymphocytes. We describe steps for preparing and treating peripheral blood mononuclear cells, surface and dye staining, cell fixation/permeabilization, and intracellular staining. We then detail machine standardization, acquisition, and analysis.

Role for histone deacetylase 1 in human tumor cell proliferation.

Posttranslational modifications of core histones are central to the regulation of gene expression. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) repress transcription by deacetylating histones, and class I HDACs have a crucial role in mouse, Xenopus laevis, zebra fish, and Caenorhabditis elegans development. The role of individual class I HDACs in tumor cell proliferation was investigated using RNA interference-mediated protein knockdown. We show here that in the absence of HDAC1 cells can arrest either at the G(1) phase of the cell cycle or at the G(2)/M transition, resulting in the loss of mitotic cells, cell growth inhibition, and an increase in the percentage of apoptotic cells. On the contrary, HDAC2 knockdown showed no effect on cell proliferation unless we concurrently knocked down HDAC1. Using gene expression profiling analysis, we found that inactivation of HDAC1 affected the transcription of specific target genes involved in proliferation and apoptosis. Furthermore, HDAC2 downregulation did not cause significant changes compared to control cells, while inactivation of HDAC1, HDAC1 plus HDAC2, or HDAC3 resulted in more distinct clusters. Loss of these HDACs might impair cell cycle progression by affecting not only the transcription of specific target genes but also other biological processes. Our data support the idea that a drug targeting specific HDACs could be highly beneficial in the treatment of cancer.

Amniotic membrane mesenchymal cells-derived factors skew T cell polarization toward Treg and downregulate Th1 and Th17 cells subsets.

We previously demonstrated that cells derived from the mesenchymal layer of the human amniotic membrane (hAMSC) and their conditioned medium (CM-hAMSC) modulate lymphocyte proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. In order to understand the mechanisms involved in immune regulation exerted by hAMSC, we analyzed the effects of CM-hAMSC on T-cell polarization towards Th1, Th2, Th17, and T-regulatory (Treg) subsets. We show that CM-hAMSC equally suppresses the proliferation of both CD4(+) T-helper (Th) and CD8(+) cytotoxic T-lymphocytes. Moreover, we prove that the CM-hAMSC inhibitory ability affects both central (CD45RO(+)CD62L(+)) and effector memory (CD45RO(+)CD62L(-)) subsets. We evaluated the phenotype of CD4(+) cells in the MLR setting and showed that CM-hAMSC significantly reduced the expression of markers associated to the Th1 (T-bet(+)CD119(+)) and Th17 (RORγt(+)CD161(+)) populations, while having no effect on the Th2 population (GATA3(+)CD193(+)/GATA3(+)CD294(+)cells). T-cell subset modulation was substantiated through the analysis of cytokine release for 6 days during co-culture with alloreactive T-cells, whereby we observed a decrease in specific subset-related cytokines, such as a decrease in pro-inflammatory, Th1-related (TNFα, IFNγ, IL-1ß), Th2 (IL-5, IL-6), Th9 (IL-9), and Th17 (IL-17A, IL-22). Furthermore, CM-hAMSC significantly induced the Treg compartment, as shown by an induction of proliferating CD4(+)FoxP3(+) cells, and an increase of CD25(+)FoxP3(+) and CD39(+)FoxP3(+) Treg in the CD4(+) population. Induction of Treg cells was corroborated by the increased secretion of TGF-ß. Taken together, these data strengthen the findings regarding the immunomodulatory properties of CM-hAMSC derived from human amniotic membrane MSC, and in particular provide insights into their effect on regulation of T cell polarization.

The expression of the non-receptor tyrosine kinases Arg and c-abl is differently modulated in B lymphoid cells at different stages of differentiation.

The products of the human ARG gene and the human ABL gene characterize the Abelson family of non-receptor tyrosine protein kinases. Both genes are ubiquitously expressed. The interactions of these two similar protein kinases are still not well known, although it has been suggested that they could cooperate, with redundant actions, to provide intracellular signals in the cells. Lymphopenia occurs in mice with homozygous disruption of c-abl, indicating that in certain tissues Arg is unable to substitute c-abl functions. In B and T lymphoid cell lines at different stages of differentiation, we studied, by a reverse transcriptase-competitive polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting, Arg and c-abl in order to evaluate whether the expression pattern of the two genes could give insight as to why they do not exhibit overlapping roles in lymphocytes and whether the product levels of the two genes are related to lymphoid differentiation. The data showed that their expression is differently modified in lymphoid B cell lines. The highest Arg transcript and protein levels are in the mature B cells.

Sgt1 is required for human kinetochore assembly.

Budding yeast Sgt1 is required for kinetochore assembly, and its homologues have a role in cAMP signalling in fungi and pathogen resistance in plants. The function of mammalian Sgt1 is unknown. We report that RNA interference-mediated depletion of Sgt1 from HeLa cells causes dramatic alterations of the mitotic spindle and problems in chromosome alignment. Cells lacking Sgt1 undergo a mitotic delay due to activation of the spindle checkpoint. The checkpoint response, however, is significantly weakened in Sgt1-depleted cells, and this correlates with a dramatic reduction in kinetochore levels of Mad1, Mad2 and BubR1. These effects are explained by a problem in kinetochore assembly that prevents the localization of Hec1, CENP-E, CENP-F, CENP-I, but not CENP-C, to mitotic kinetochores. Our studies implicate Sgt1 as an essential protein and a critical assembly factor for the mammalian kinetochore, and lend credit to the hypothesis of a kinetochore assembly pathway that is conserved from yeast to man.