Xenogenic Neural Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Nanovesicles Modulate Human Mesenchymal Stem Cell Fate and Reconstruct Metabolomic Structure

Self-Assembled Peptide Hydrogels Loaded with Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Repairing Injured Endometrium and Restoring Fertility

Endometrial injury is a major cause of infertility and recurrent miscarriage. However, no clinically available methods currently exist to effectively repair the damaged endometrium. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have emerged as a promising therapeutic approach for promoting tissue regeneration, yet a biocompatible scaffold capable of delivering MSCs and supporting their growth is needed. Herein, the study reports a peptide hydrogel scaffold, self-assembled from a peptide IVK8-RGD consisting of an ionic complementary peptide sequence IEVEIRVK and a bioactive sequence RGD, to load umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs). This peptide forms a hydrogel under the physiological condition through self-assembly, and the peptide hydrogel exhibits injectability and adhesiveness to uterus, making it suitable for endometrial repair. Importantly, this hydrogel supports the adhesion and proliferation of UC-MSCs in a 3D environment. In vivo experiments using rats with endometrial injury have shown that treatment with IVK8-RGD hydrogel loaded with UC-MSCs effectively restores endometrial thickness, inhibits fibrosis, and facilitates angiogenesis through activating Raf/MEK/ERK pathway, leading to significantly improved fertility and live birth rate. These findings demonstrate the potential of the UC-MSCs-loaded hydrogel in repairing damaged endometrium and may address the unmet clinical needs of treating recurrent miscarriage and infertility induced by endometrial damage.

Manipulating macrophage polarization with nanoparticles to control metastatic behavior in heterotypic breast cancer micro-tissues via exosome signaling

This study aimed to investigate the effects of nanoparticles on macrophage polarization and their subsequent influence on post-tumorigenic behavior. Initially, seven different nanoparticles were applied to macrophages, and Zn-Ni-FeO (100 nm) and palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs, ∼25 nm) were found to induce M1-polarization in macrophages. A co-culture experiment was then conducted to examine the effects of macrophages on MCF-7 breast cancer micro-tissues. The M2-macrophages promoted tumor proliferation, while M1- and PdNPs-induced macrophages showed anti-tumor effects by suppressing cell proliferation. To reveal the mechanisms of effect, exosomes isolated from M1 (M1-Exo), M0 (M0-Exo), M2 (M2-Exo), and PdNPs-induced (PdNPs-Exo) macrophages were applied to the heterotypic tumor micro-tissues including MCF-7, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), and primary human dermal fibroblasts (phDFs). M2-Exo was seen to promote the migration of cancer cells and induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), while M1-Exo suppressed these behaviors. PdNPs-Exo was effective in suppressing the aggressive nature of breast cancer cells similar to M1-Exo, moreover, the efficacy of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) was increased in combination with PdNPs-Exo in both MCF-7 and heterotypic micro-tissues. In conclusion, PdNPs-Exo has potential anti-tumor effects, can be used as a combination therapy to enhance the efficacy of anti-cancer drugs, as well as innovative implants for breast cancer treatment.

Neural stem/progenitor cell-derived extracellular vesicles: A novel therapy for neurological diseases and beyond

As bilayer lipid membrane vesicles secreted by neural stem/progenitor cells (NSCs), NSC-derived extracellular vesicles (NSC-EVs) have attracted growing attention for their promising potential to serve as novel therapeutic agents in treatment of neurological diseases due to their unique physicochemical characteristics and biological functions. NSC-EVs exhibit advantages such as stable physical and chemical properties, low immunogenicity, and high penetration capacity to cross blood-brain barrier to avoid predicaments of the clinical applications of NSCs that include autoimmune responses, ethical/religious concerns, and the problematic logistics of acquiring fetal tissues. More importantly, NSC-EVs inherit excellent neuroprotective and neuroregenerative potential and immunomodulatory capabilities from parent cells, and display outstanding therapeutic effects on mitigating behavioral alterations and pathological phenotypes of patients or animals with neurological diseases. In this review, we first comprehensively summarize the progress in functional research and application of NSC-EVs in different neurological diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases, acute neurological diseases, dementia/cognitive dysfunction, and peripheral diseases. Next, we provide our thoughts on current limitations/concerns as well as tremendous potential of NSC-EVs in clinical applications. Last, we discuss future directions of further investigations on NSC-EVs and their probable applications in both basic and clinical research.

Omics Technologies for High-Throughput-Screening of Cell-Biomaterial Interactions

Recent research effort in biomaterial development has largely focused on engineering bio-instructive materials to stimulate specific cell signaling. Assessing the biological performance of these materials using time-consuming and trial-and-error traditional...