MANSI SHRIVASTAVA¹, DIKSHA PANDEY¹, POONAM SHARMA², RAMBIR SINGH^3,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.2, pp. 339-356, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.016822

Abstract Aspergillus is a group of conidial fungi, isolated from soil and litter, cause serious diseases in humans and animals. This ubiquitous fungus is prevalent in the air and inhalation of fungal spores is common. Fungal diseases from Aspergillus became a major health problem and are difficult to manage because they tend to be chronic and invasive, hard to diagnose and difficult to exterminate with antifungal drugs. Although, immune responses play vital roles in monitoring the fate of fungal infections and regulation of the immune responses against fungal infections might be an effective approach for controlling and reducing the pathological damages.… More >

WAN AZANI MUSTAFA^1,2,*, AFIQAH HALIM², MOHD WAFI NASRUDIN², KHAIRUL SHAKIR AB RAHMAN³

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.2, pp. 367-381, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.016814

Abstract Cervix cancer is one of Malaysia’s most significant cancers for women (around 12.9%, with an age-standardised incidence rate of 19.7 per 100,000). It was higher than other Asian, West, and even worldwide nations. The National Strategic Plan for Cancer Control Program 2016–2020 (Health Ministry) was presented to minimize cancer and mortality. The high incidence of cervical cancer in Malaysia is mainly due to women’s insufficient knowledge about its prevention and importance. Compared with traditional literature reviews, the systemic analysis provides many advantages. A clearer review process, a more prominent field of study, and essential priorities that can manage research bias… More >

TAILIN WU^1,#, XIANG ZHOU^2,#, CANHUA YE¹, WENCAN LU¹, HAITAO LIN¹, YANZHE WEI¹, ZEKAI KE¹, ZHENGJI HUANG¹, JIANZHOU LUO¹, HUIREN TAO¹, CHUNGUANG DUAN^1,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.2, pp. 495-503, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.015214

Abstract Differentiated macrophages have been proven to participate in the development of mesenchymal stem cells in different tissues. However, the regulatory processes remain obscure. Exosomes, which are key secretions of macrophages, have attracted increasing attention. Therefore, macrophage-derived exosomes may modulate the development of Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs). Different culture conditions were used to induce M1 polarization in THP1 cells. Subsequently, exosomes derived from unpolarized (M0) and polarized (M1) macrophages were isolated, BMMSCs were cultured with normal complete medium or inductive medium supplemented with M0 or M1 derived exosomes, and the osteogenic capacity of the BMMSCs was measured and analyzed.… More >

HAIZHENG LIU¹, SHAOFEI CHANG^2,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.2, pp. 453-462, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015340

Abstract Lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 1 (LPCAT1) is a phospholipid acyltransferase that promotes phospholipid synthesis and plasma membrane reconstruction. Exosomes play an important role in tumor metastasis. The release and uptake of exosomes are key steps of their functions and depend on plasma membrane fusion and plasma membrane receptors, respectively. The purpose of this study was to explore whether LPCAT1-induced plasma membrane remodeling would change the secretion and uptake behavior of exosomes in tumor cells. We first confirmed the abnormally high expression of LPCAT1 in colorectal cancer cells by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and Western blot analysis. Then, SW620 cells were used as… More >

JIUCHUN GUO¹, JIE PAN^2,*, QIANQIAN GUO²

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.2, pp. 505-510, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015785

Abstract The excessive energy of light, especially the invisible rays with lower wavelength, is basically absorbed by retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and usually causes DNA damage. The molecular mechanism behind DNA damage repair response to this frequent stress in RPE is not clearly understood. In this study, we determined that the Fanconi anemia (FA) pathway was activated in human RPE ARPE-19 cells after ultraviolet (UV) B and C treatment. Moreover, immunoprecipitation (IP) of FANCD2 indicated that denticleless E3 ubiquitin protein ligase homolog (DTL) closely interacted with FANCD2. Knockdown of DTL weakened the activity of the FA pathway in ARPE-19 cells responding… More >

LIXU JIANG¹, LIN NING², CHUNCHAO PU¹, ZIXIN WANG¹, BIFANG HE^1,3, JIAN HUANG^1,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.2, pp. 547-557, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.016500

Abstract As nucleic acid-guided endonucleases, some prokaryotic Argonautes have been used as programmable nucleases. Natronobacterium gregoryi Argonaute (NgAgo) has also been proposed for gene editing, but this remains very controversial. Until now, the endogenous nucleic acids that bind to NgAgo in Natronobacterium gregoryi sp2 (N. gregoryi sp2) have not been characterized. We expressed the conserved PIWI domain of NgAgo and used it to induce anti-PIWI antibody. We also cultured the N. gregoryi sp2 strain and performed immunoprecipitation, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays. The nucleic acids that endogenously bound NgAgo in N. gregoryi sp2 cells were sequenced and analyzed.… More >

ZHIHENG LIU^1,2, ZHEN SUN³, ZHONGYUAN WAN⁴, HAIQIANG WANG^2,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.2, pp. 511-517, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.016194

Abstract We unraveled the expression profiles of coding-noncoding RNAs in intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). However, it remains elusive regarding miR-155 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and local extracellular space in IDD. The study aimed for investigating the miR-155 expression of PBMCs, extracellular miRNAs (ex-miRNAs) of human nucleus pulposus (NP) tissues, and morphological changes of cell death in the IDD process. Here, we harvested peripheral blood and NP samples from scoliosis and IDD patients as control and degenerative groups, respectively. Then standard Ficoll density-gradient centrifugation was used to isolate PBMCs. The two subpopulations of PBMCs were divided based on the… More >

YUANYUAN JIA, XIAONA MA, XIURUI YAN, JING XUE, TINGTING YANG, XUEYUN LIANG^*, XIAOMING LIU^*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.2, pp. 479-493, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.015390

Abstract Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) capable of tumour topotaxis have been served as cellular vehicles to deliver anti-tumour agents. As cellular components of the tumour microenvironment, MSCs also affect tumour progression. However, the tumour transformation-related genes of MSCs remain unclear since either tumorigenic or tumour suppressor effects within these cells have been researched. Hence, we aimed to identify potential biomarkers indicative of tumorigenic risk by RNA-seq analysis of human placenta tissue-derived MSCs (hPTMSCs) exposed to the carcinogenic agent, 3-methylcholanthrene (3-MC). Twenty-nine tumour transformation-related genes and three pluripotency-related genes were appraised as differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in hPTMSCs. Overexpression of sfrp1 led… More >

XINWEI WU¹, GUOYONG JIA^2,*, HONGNA YANG³, CONGCONG SUN², YING LIU², ZENGYAN DIAO²

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.2, pp. 471-478, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015701

Abstract A progressive neurodegenerative disease, Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Studies suggest that highly expressed protein isoaspartate methyltransferase 1 (PCMT1) in brain tissue. In the current study, we explored the effects of neural stem cell-conditioned medium (NSC-CDM) on the PCMT1/MST1 pathway to alleviate Aβ_25-35-induced damage in SH-SY5Y cells. Our data suggested that Aβ25-35 markedly inhibited cell viability. NSC-CDM or Neural stem cell-complete medium (NSC-CPM) had a suppression effect on toxicity when treatment with Aβ_25-35, with a greater effect observed with NSC-CDM. Aβ_25-35 + NSC-CDM group exhibited an increase in PCMT1 expression. sh-PCMT1 markedly decreased cell proliferation and suppressed the protective role of NSC-CDM… More >

XIANGCAI YANG^1,2,*, YA XU³, SHUTING MEI¹, JIEJING LI^3,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.2, pp. 463-470, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.014834

Abstract Cell migration is a finely tuned biological process that often involves epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). EMT is typically characterized by the upregulation of mesenchymal markers such as Snail1. This process has been shown to be of critical importance to normal developmental processes, including neural crest migration and invasion. Interestingly, similar mechanisms are utilized in disease processes, such as tumor metastasis and migration. Notably, EMT and EMT-like processes confer tumor cells with the ability to migrate, invade, and adopt stem cell-like properties that largely account for immunosuppression and tumor recurrence. Therefore, identifying sensitive EMT markers may contribute to cancer prognosis and diagnosis… More >