A minor tweak in transplant surgery protocols alters the cellular landscape of the arterial wall during transplant vasculopathy.

Introduction: Transplant vasculopathy (TV) is a major complication after solid organ transplantation, distinguished by an arterial intimal thickening that obstructs the vascular lumen and leads to organ rejection. To date, TV remains largely untreatable, mainly because the processes involved in its development remain unclear. Aortic transplantation in mice, used to mimic TV, relies on highly variable experimental protocols, particularly regarding the type of anastomosis used to connect the donor aorta to the recipient. While the amount of trauma undergone by a vessel can dramatically affect the resulting pathology, the impact of the type of anastomosis on TV in mice has not been investigated in detail. Methods: In this study, we compare the cellular composition of aortic grafts from BALB/C donor mice transplanted into C57BL/6J recipient mice using two different anastomosis strategies: sleeve and cuff. Results: While both models recapitulated some aspects of human TV, there were striking differences in the cellular composition of the grafts. Indeed, aortic grafts from the cuff group displayed a larger coverage of the neointimal area by vascular smooth muscle cells compared to the sleeve group. Aortic grafts from the sleeve group contained higher amounts of T cells, while the cuff group displayed larger B-cell infiltrates. Discussion: Together, these data indicate that a seemingly minor technical difference in transplant surgery protocols can largely impact the cellular composition of the graft, and thus the mechanisms underlying TV after aortic transplantation in mice.

Characterization of the Tumor Microenvironment in Jaw Osteosarcomas, towards Prognostic Markers and New Therapeutic Targets.

Background-The purpose of this study was to investigate the bone resorption, as well as the vascular and immune microenvironment, of jaw osteosarcomas (JO) and to correlate these features with patient clinical outcomes. Methods-We studied 50 JO biopsy samples by immunohistochemical analysis of tissue microarrays (TMAs). We investigated the bone remodeling markers RANK/RANKL/OPG, the endothelial glycoprotein CD146, and biomarkers of the immune environment (CD163 and CD68 of macrophages, CD4+ and CD8+ of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), and an immune checkpoint PD-1/PD-L1). The biomarkers were analyzed for their influence on progression (recurrence and metastasis), overall survival (OS), and disease-free survival (DFS). Results-A strong and significant correlation has been found between CD163 staining and lower OS and DFS. The level of CD4+ and CD8+ staining was low and non-significantly associated with survival outcomes. High levels of RANK and RANKL were found in the tumor samples and correlated with lower DFS. Conclusion-Our findings suggest that CD163+ TAMs represent markers of poor prognosis in JO. Targeting TAMs could represent a valuable therapeutic strategy in JO.

Sphingosine Kinase-1 Is Overexpressed and Correlates with Hypoxia in Osteosarcoma: Relationship with Clinicopathological Parameters.

The Sphingosine kinase-1/Sphingosine 1-Phosphate (SphK1/S1P) signaling pathway is overexpressed in various cancers, and is instrumental for the adaptation to hypoxia in a number of solid tumor models, but no data are available in osteosarcoma. Here we report that SphK1 and the S1P1 receptor are involved in HIF-1α accumulation in hypoxic osteosarcoma cells. FTY720 (Fingolimod), which targets SphK1 and S1P1, prevented HIF-1α accumulation, and also inhibited cell proliferation in both normoxia and hypoxia unlike conventional chemotherapy. In human biopsies, a significant increase of SphK1 activity was observed in cancer compared with normal bones. In all sets of TMA samples (130 cases of osteosarcoma), immunohistochemical analysis showed the hypoxic marker GLUT-1, SphK1 and S1P1 were expressed in tumors. SphK1 correlated with the GLUT-1 suggesting that SphK1 is overexpressed and correlates with intratumoral hypoxia. No correlation was found between GLUT-1 or SphK1 and response to chemotherapy, but a statistical difference was found with increased S1P1 expression in patients with poor response in long bone osteosarcomas. Importantly, multivariate analyses showed that GLUT-1 was associated with an increased risk of death in flat bone, whereas SphK1 and S1P1 were associated with an increased risk of death in long bones.

High levels of MeCP2 depress MHC class I expression in neuronal cells.

BACKGROUND: The expression of MHC class I genes is repressed in mature neurons. The molecular basis of this regulation is poorly understood, but the genes are particularly rich in CpG islands. MeCP2 is a transcriptional repressor that binds to methylated CpG dinucleotides; mutations in this protein also cause the neurodevelopmental disease called Rett syndrome. Because MHC class I molecules play a role in neuronal connectivity, we hypothesised that MeCP2 might repress MHC class I expression in the CNS and that this might play a role in the pathology of Rett syndrome. METHODOLOGY: We show here that transiently transfected cells expressing high levels of MeCP2 specifically downregulate cell-surface expression of MHC class I molecules in the neuronal cell line N2A and they prevent the induction of MHC class I expression in response to interferon in these cells, supporting our first hypothesis. Surprisingly, however, overexpression of the mutated forms of MeCP2 that cause Rett syndrome had a similar effect on MHC class I expression as the wild-type protein. Immunohistological analyses of brain slices from MECP2 knockout mice (the MeCP2(tm1.1Bird) strain) demonstrated a small but reproducible increase in MHC class I when compared to their wild type littermates, but we found no difference in MHC class I expression in primary cultures of mixed glial cells (mainly neurons and astrocytes) from the knockout and wild-type mice. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that high levels of MeCP2, such as those found in mature neurons, may contribute to the repression of MHC expression, but we find no evidence that MeCP2 regulation of MHC class I is important for the pathogenesis of Rett syndrome.