Article
Oncology
Masahito Nakazaki, Karen L. Lankford, Hideaki Yamamoto, Yoshiyuki Mae, Jeffery D. Kocsis
Summary: Intravenous delivery of both human and rat MSC-sEVs promotes body growth and motor function recovery in young adult rats with SCI. This therapeutic effect is likely due to the modulation of cytokines involved in growth-related hormonal pathways. MSC-sEVs have an impact on both metabolic and neurological deficits in SCI.
CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Polymer Science
Assaf Bar, Olga Kryukov, Smadar Cohen
Summary: This study proposes a bi-functional, 3D bio-printed cardiac patch design with a core compartment containing cell-laden materials and a shell compartment containing extracellular vesicles, aiming to improve integration with the host tissue.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shinya Kusama, Kaito Sato, Yuuya Matsui, Natsumi Kimura, Hiroya Abe, Shotaro Yoshida, Matsuhiko Nishizawa
Summary: The authors discuss the utilization of porous polymer microneedles combined with electroosmosis powered by enzymatic batteries to deliver small and large molecules across the skin efficiently.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Soo-Eun Sung, Min-Soo Seo, Young-In Kim, Kyung-Ku Kang, Joo-Hee Choi, Sijoon Lee, Minkyoung Sung, Sang-Gu Yim, Ju-Hyeon Lim, Hyun-Gyu Seok, Seung-Yun Yang, Gun-Woo Lee
Summary: This study demonstrated that exosomes isolated from human epidural adipose tissue-derived MSCs can help restore locomotor function in rats with SCI by reducing inflammatory response.
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Heng Wang, Qin Tang, Yang Lu, Cheng Chen, Yu-lin Zhao, Tao Xu, Chang-wei Yang, Xiao-qing Chen
Summary: A Berberine-carrying system using small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) and GelMA hydrogel was designed to overcome the limitations of Berberine and enhance its therapeutic efficacy in spinal cord injury (SCI) repair. The system effectively promoted nerve regeneration and motor function recovery in post-SCI rats, demonstrating its potential as a promising therapeutic strategy.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICS
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jinsu Hwang, Sujeong Jang, Choonghyo Kim, Sungjoon Lee, Han-Seong Jeong
Summary: Neurological disorders pose a global health problem, and current pharmacological treatments have side effects. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and immunomodulatory properties, and their secreted paracrine factors play a therapeutic role. Exosomes and MSC-derived miRNAs also regulate genes and alleviate neuropathological changes in neurological diseases.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Zhiguo Fan, Ji Wu, Shenyuan Chen, Guoyou Zhang, Chen Kai, Hui Qian, Wenrong Xu, Zhai Xiao
Summary: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) in the field of spinal cord injury (SCI) have gained attention for their potential in diagnosis and therapy. A bibliometric analysis of 359 papers from Web of Science (WoS) showed explosive growth in publications starting in 2015, with China and the United States leading the research. Keywords were divided into three clusters: Pathophysiology of SCI, Bioactive components of EVs, and Therapeutic effects of EVs in SCI. The research focus has shifted towards more mechanistic and applied domains, such as activation, pathways, hydrogels, and therapy. Institutions are expected to allocate more resources to EVs-loaded hydrogel therapy and innovative materials for injury mitigation.
JOURNAL OF NANOBIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ilya Shulman, Tatyana Ageeva, Alexander Kostennikov, Sergei Ogurcov, Leysan Tazetdinova, Ilyas Kabdesh, Alexander Rogozhin, Ilnur Ganiev, Albert Rizvanov, Yana Mukhamedshina
Summary: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a current medical and social problem that causes severe disability. The use of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) is a strategy to promote the recovery of spinal cord structure and function after trauma. This study evaluated the therapeutic potential of repeated intrathecal injection of autologous MSC-derived EVs in a pig model of subacute contused SCI. The results showed partial restoration of locomotor activity through remyelination of axons and timely reperfusion of nervous tissue.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Chuanjie Zhang, Daoyong Li, Hengshuo Hu, Zhe Wang, Jinyu An, Zhanshan Gao, Kaihua Zhang, Xifan Mei, Chao Wu, He Tian
Summary: Engineered extracellular vesicles with anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties were prepared by combining nerve growth factor (NGF) and curcumin (Cur). These vesicles effectively accumulated at the injured site, inhibiting inflammation and releasing NGF for neuroprotection. The vesicles significantly improved the microenvironment after injury and promoted the recovery of motor function after SCI.
JOURNAL OF NANOBIOTECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Di Lu, Jiu-Ping Wu, Qi-Wei Yang, Hua-Yi Wang, Jun-Jie Yang, Gang-Gang Zhang, Chen Wang, Yan-Lian Yang, Ling Zhu, Xin-Zhi Sun
Summary: Lipid nanovesicles are effective delivery systems for targeted treatment of spinal cord injury due to their biocompatibility and ability to penetrate the blood-spinal cord barrier. Although most studies are still in preclinical stages, these nanovesicles hold great promise for future spinal cord injury treatments due to their low immunogenicity, low toxicity, and high engineerability.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Liming Li, Jiafu Mu, Yu Zhang, Chenyang Zhang, Teng Ma, Lu Chen, Tianchen Huang, Jiahe Wu, Jian Cao, Shiqing Feng, Youzhi Cai, Min Han, Jianqing Gao
Summary: This study found that exosomes derived from hypoxic preconditioned human umbilical vein endothelial cells can stimulate angiogenic MSCs, showing great potential in the treatment of traumatic spinal cord injury.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Zengjie Zhang, Xiaolei Zhang, Chenggui Wang, Wangsiyuan Teng, Hongyuan Xing, Fangqian Wang, Eloy Yinwang, Hangxiang Sun, Yan Wu, Chengcheng Yu, Xupeng Chai, Zhiyong Qian, Xiaohua Yu, Zhaoming Ye, Xiangyang Wang
Summary: Persistent inflammation during the secondary injury of spinal cord injury is identified as the main cause of poor regenerative capability of spinal cord. Extracellular vesicles derived from M2 microglia have shown therapeutic potential for inflammation alleviation and neural regeneration. However, their applications in spinal cord injury treatment are limited due to issues such as poor accumulation, short retention, and lack of controlled release. Therefore, a novel thermosensitive hydrogel system was developed to deliver M2 derived extracellular vesicles for spinal cord injury treatment. The hydrogel enabled effective retention and controlled release of the vesicles, resulting in improved motor nerve functional recovery. Mechanistic study revealed that the sustained release of the vesicles attenuated local inflammation and inhibited neuron apoptosis, thus protecting the spinal cord. This approach provides a microenvironment-responsive and noninvasive method to improve spinal cord injury therapy through both anti-inflammatory and neural protective mechanisms.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Xiao Zhai, Kai Chen, Huan Yang, Bo Li, Tianjunke Zhou, Haojue Wang, Huipeng Zhou, Shaofeng Chen, Xiaoyi Zhou, Xiaozhao Wei, Yushu Bai, Ming Li
Summary: CD73+ hucMSC-EVs ameliorated inflammation after spinal cord injury by reducing extracellular ATP, promoting A2bR/cAMP/PKA pathway and M2/M1 polarization. They may be promising nano drugs for clinical application in SCI therapy.
JOURNAL OF NANOBIOTECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Saigopalakrishna S. Yerneni, Ezgi P. Yalcintas, Jason D. Smith, Saadyah Averick, Phil G. Campbell, O. Burak Ozdoganlar
Summary: This study introduces and evaluates a skin-targeted delivery system for curcumin that combines albumin association, extracellular vesicle (EV) encapsulation, and dissolvable microneedle arrays (dMNAs). In vitro experiments demonstrate that curcumin-albumin encapsulated EVs (CA-EVs) can inhibit and reverse the expression of inflammatory transcription factor NF-.B triggered by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The integration of CA-EVs into dMNAs does not affect their physical or functional properties. Importantly, dMNAs extend the storage stability of EVs for at least 12 months at room temperature with minimal loss in their bioactivity. We demonstrate that dMNA delivered CA-EVs effectively block and reverse skin inflammation in vivo in mouse and rat models.
ACTA BIOMATERIALIA
(2022)
Article
Immunology
Yuluo Rong, Chengyue Ji, Zhuanghui Wang, Xuhui Ge, Jiaxing Wang, Wu Ye, Pengyu Tang, Dongdong Jiang, Jin Fan, Guoyong Yin, Wei Liu, Weihua Cai
Summary: After spinal cord injury, astrocytes release CCL2 through sEVs, affecting microglia and neurons, leading to neuronal apoptosis and microglial activation. The activated microglia then release IL-1 beta, further exacerbating neuronal apoptosis.
JOURNAL OF NEUROINFLAMMATION
(2021)
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Kai Zheng, Lingmin Lin, Wei Jiang, Lin Chen, Xiyue Zhang, Qian Zhang, Yi Ren, Junwei Hao
Summary: The study identified distinct subpopulations of brain cells and their functions in the progression of ischemic stroke, revealing specific gene expression patterns in different cell types during stroke. This research sheds light on the precise transcriptional changes at the single-cell level during neuroinflammation, offering new insights for exploring disease mechanisms and drug discovery in stroke.
JOURNAL OF CEREBRAL BLOOD FLOW AND METABOLISM
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Biomaterials
Lingmin Lin, Zewei He, Tianfang Zhang, Yanming Zuo, Xiangfeng Chen, Zeinab Abdelrahman, Feihong Chen, Zhongcao Wei, Ke Si, Wei Gong, Xuhua Wang, Sailing He, Zuobing Chen
Summary: FO2 is a biocompatible mitochondria-targeted two-photon fluorescent dye with excellent two-photon absorption cross-section and low cellular toxicity, allowing imaging depth of approximately 640 µm in live animal neural imaging to investigate the function and dysfunction of mitochondria in the brain.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY B
(2022)
Correction
Materials Science, Biomaterials
Lingmin Lin, Zewei He, Tianfang Zhang, Yanming Zuo, Xiangfeng Chen, Zeinab Abdelrahman, Feihong Chen, Zhongcao Wei, Ke Si, Wei Gong, Xuhua Wang, Sailing He, Zuobing Chen
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY B
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Biao Yang, Chengzhen Liang, Di Chen, Feng Cheng, Yuang Zhang, Shaoke Wang, Jiawei Shu, Xianpeng Huang, Jingkai Wang, Kaishun Xia, Liwei Ying, Kesi Shi, Chenggui Wang, Xuhua Wang, Fangcai Li, Qian Zhao, Qixin Chen
Summary: The current effective method for treating spinal cord injury (SCI) involves using a hydrogel called agarose/gelatin/polypyrrole (Aga/Gel/PPy, AGP3) to fill the injured cavity and promote neural stem cell (NSC) differentiation. This AGP3 hydrogel showed excellent biocompatibility and promoted neuronal differentiation while inhibiting astrocyte growth. In vivo studies demonstrated that the AGP3 hydrogel covered tissue defects, reduced the size of the injured area, and facilitated functional recovery by promoting endogenous neurogenesis. RNA sequencing analysis revealed that AGP3 hydrogel modulated the expression of neurogenesis-related genes through intracellular calcium signaling pathways.
BIOACTIVE MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Binjie Guo, Hanyu Zheng, Haohan Jiang, Xiaodan Li, Naiyu Guan, Yanming Zuo, Yicheng Zhang, Hengfu Yang, Xuhua Wang
Summary: Due to the lack of an efficient method to represent multimodal information of proteins, predicting compound-protein binding affinity (CPA) has low accuracy with machine-learning methods. In this study, we develop a novel end-to-end architecture called FeatNN to represent both structure and sequence features of proteins, and optimize mathematical models for CPA prediction using a coevolutionary strategy. We also propose a rational method to optimize the accuracy and generalization ability of FeatNN in CPA prediction tasks by utilizing both high- and low-quality databases. FeatNN outperforms the state-of-the-art baseline in virtual drug evaluation tasks, demonstrating its feasibility for practical use.
BRIEFINGS IN BIOINFORMATICS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shuang Jin, Xiangfeng Chen, Hanyu Zheng, Wanxiong Cai, Xurong Lin, Xiangxing Kong, Yingchun Ni, Jingjia Ye, Xiaodan Li, Luoan Shen, Binjie Guo, Zeinab Abdelrahman, Songlin Zhou, Susu Mao, Yaxian Wang, Chun Yao, Xiaosong Gu, Bin Yu, Zhiping Wang, Xuhua Wang
Summary: The limited regrowth capacity of corticospinal axons after cortical stroke hinders functional recovery. In this study, we identified ubiquitination factor E4B (UBE4B) as a regulator of axonal regrowth in retinal ganglion cells and corticospinal neurons. UBE4B represses axonal regrowth through the cooperative activation of p53 and mTOR pathways. Overexpression of UbV.E4B, a competitive inhibitor of UBE4B, promotes corticospinal axon sprouting and facilitates recovery of corticospinal tract-dependent function in a cortical stroke model.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Jian Cao, Jiahe Wu, Jiafu Mu, Lingmin Lin, Xunqi Zhang, Tianchen Huang, Teng Ma, Manning Zhu, Xiaoyang Dai, Xuhua Wang, Shiqing Feng, Jian-Qing Gao
Summary: Implanting MSCs in SCI repair holds promise, but the harsh environment and excessive ROS threaten MSC survival. The dual-phase pathology of acute and chronic phases makes it challenging to alleviate severe inflammation and promote functional recovery. The RF-pGel-MS scaffold system efficiently scavenges ROS and boosts stem cell therapeutics, showing significant efficacy in locomotor and electro-physiology recovery in SCI rats.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Yanming Zuo, Jingjia Ye, Wanxiong Cai, Binjie Guo, Xiangfeng Chen, Lingmin Lin, Shuang Jin, Hanyu Zheng, Ao Fang, Xingran Qian, Zeinab Abdelrahman, Zhiping Wang, Zhipeng Zhang, Zuobin Chen, Bin Yu, Xiaosong Gu, Xuhua Wang
Summary: The authors developed a microinvasive nanodrug delivery system consisting of reactive oxygen species-responsive polymers and a neurotransmitter-conjugated KCC2 agonist. The nanodrugs can cross the damaged blood-spinal cord barrier and promote recovery after spinal cord injury by scavenging reactive oxygen species and modulating inhibitory neurons. This microinvasive treatment leads to functional recovery in rats with spinal cord injury.
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Correction
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ao Fang, Yifan Wang, Naiyu Guan, Yanming Zuo, Lingmin Lin, Binjie Guo, Aisheng Mo, Yile Wu, Xurong Lin, Wanxiong Cai, Xiangfeng Chen, Jingjia Ye, Zeinab Abdelrahman, Xiaodan Li, Hanyu Zheng, Zhonghan Wu, Shuang Jin, Kan Xu, Yan Huang, Xiaosong Gu, Bin Yu, Xuhua Wang
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Mathematical & Computational Biology
Lingmin Lin, Kailai Liu, Huan Feng, Jing Li, Hengle Chen, Tao Zhang, Boyun Xue, Jiarui Si
Summary: An intelligent prediction system for glucose trajectory based on deep learning was constructed and applied to a participant with type 2 diabetes. The results showed good predictive accuracy and improved glucose control by reducing glucose variability. However, the application of the system also brought about increased stress.
MATHEMATICAL BIOSCIENCES AND ENGINEERING
(2022)