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Mathew-Schmitt S, Peindl M, Neundorf P, Dandekar G, Metzger M, Nickl V, Appelt-Menzel A. Blood-tumor barrier in focus - investigation of glioblastoma-induced effects on the blood-brain barrier. J Neurooncol 2024:10.1007/s11060-024-04760-w. [PMID: 39196480 DOI: 10.1007/s11060-024-04760-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2024] [Accepted: 06/26/2024] [Indexed: 08/29/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most prevalent, malignant, primary brain tumor in adults, characterized by limited treatment options, frequent relapse, and short survival after diagnosis. Until now, none of the existing therapy and treatment approaches have proven to be an effective cure. The availability of predictive human blood-tumor barrier (BTB) test systems that can mimic in-vivo pathophysiology of GBM would be of great interest in preclinical research. Here, we present the establishment of a new BTB in-vitro test system combining GBM spheroids and BBB models derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). METHODS We co-cultured hiPSC-derived brain capillary endothelial-like cells (iBCECs) with GBM spheroids derived from U87-MG and U373-MG cell lines in a cell culture insert-based format. Spheroids were monitored over 168 hours (h) of culture, characterized for GBM-specific marker expression and treated with standard chemotherapeutics to distinguish inhibitory effects between 2D mono-culture and 3D spheroids. GBM-induced changes on iBCECs barrier integrity were verified via measurement of transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER), immunocytochemical staining of tight junction (TJ) proteins claudin-5 and occludin as well as the glucose transporter-1 (Glut-1). GBM-induced secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was additionally quantified. RESULTS Our hypothesis was validated by reduced expression of TJ proteins, occludin and claudin-5 together with significant barrier breakdown in iBCECs after only 24 h of co-culture, demonstrated by reduction in TEER from 1313 ± 265 Ω*cm2 to 712 ± 299 Ω*cm2 (iBCECs + U87-MG) and 762 ± 316 Ω*cm2 (iBCECs + U373-MG). Furthermore, 3D spheroids show more resistance to standard GBM chemotherapeutics in-vitro compared to 2D cultures. CONCLUSIONS We demonstrate the establishment of a simplified, robust in-vitro BTB test system, with potential application in preclinical therapeutic screening and in studying GBM-induced pathological changes at the BBB.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sanjana Mathew-Schmitt
- Chair Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, University Hospital Würzburg, Röntgenring 11, 97070, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Matthias Peindl
- Chair Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, University Hospital Würzburg, Röntgenring 11, 97070, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Philipp Neundorf
- Chair Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, University Hospital Würzburg, Röntgenring 11, 97070, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Gudrun Dandekar
- Chair Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, University Hospital Würzburg, Röntgenring 11, 97070, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Marco Metzger
- Chair Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, University Hospital Würzburg, Röntgenring 11, 97070, Würzburg, Germany
- Translational Centre Regenerative Therapies TLC-RT, Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC, Röntgenring 11, 97070, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Vera Nickl
- Section Experimental Neurosurgery, Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Straße 11, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Antje Appelt-Menzel
- Chair Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, University Hospital Würzburg, Röntgenring 11, 97070, Würzburg, Germany.
- Translational Centre Regenerative Therapies TLC-RT, Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC, Röntgenring 11, 97070, Würzburg, Germany.
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Vollmuth N, Bridgers BE, Armstrong ML, Wood JF, Gildea AR, Espinal ER, Hooven TA, Barbieri G, Westermann AJ, Sauerwein T, Foerstner KU, Schubert-Unkmeir A, Kim BJ. Group B Streptococcus transcriptome when interacting with brain endothelial cells. J Bacteriol 2024; 206:e0008724. [PMID: 38771039 PMCID: PMC11332166 DOI: 10.1128/jb.00087-24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2024] [Accepted: 04/22/2024] [Indexed: 05/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Bacterial meningitis is a life-threatening infection of the central nervous system (CNS) that occurs when bacteria are able to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) or the meningeal-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (mBCSFB). The BBB and mBCSFB comprise highly specialized brain endothelial cells (BECs) that typically restrict pathogen entry. Group B Streptococcus (GBS or Streptococcus agalactiae) is the leading cause of neonatal meningitis. Until recently, identification of GBS virulence factors has relied on genetic screening approaches. Instead, we here conducted RNA-seq analysis on GBS when interacting with induced pluripotent stem cell-derived BECs (iBECs) to pinpoint virulence-associated genes. Of the 2,068 annotated protein-coding genes of GBS, 430 transcripts displayed significant changes in expression after interacting with BECs. Notably, we found that the majority of differentially expressed GBS transcripts were downregulated (360 genes) during infection of iBECs. Interestingly, codY, encoding a pleiotropic transcriptional repressor in low-G + C Gram-positive bacteria, was identified as being highly downregulated. We conducted qPCR to confirm the codY downregulation observed via RNA-seq during the GBS-iBEC interaction and obtained codY mutants in three different GBS background parental strains. As anticipated from the RNA-seq results, the [Formula: see text]codY strains were more adherent and invasive in two in vitro BEC models. Together, this demonstrates the utility of RNA-seq during the BEC interaction to identify GBS virulence modulators. IMPORTANCE Group B Streptococcus (GBS) meningitis remains the leading cause of neonatal meningitis. Research work has identified surface factors and two-component systems that contribute to GBS disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). These discoveries often relied on genetic screening approaches. Here, we provide transcriptomic data describing how GBS changes its transcriptome when interacting with brain endothelial cells. Additionally, we have phenotypically validated these data by obtaining mutants of a select regulator that is highly down-regulated during infection and testing on our BBB model. This work provides the research field with a validated data set that can provide an insight into potential pathways that GBS requires to interact with the BBB and open the door to new discoveries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadine Vollmuth
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
| | - Bailey E. Bridgers
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
| | - Madelyn L. Armstrong
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
| | - Jacob F. Wood
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
| | - Abigail R. Gildea
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
| | - Eric R. Espinal
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
| | - Thomas A. Hooven
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
- Richard King Mellon Institute for Pediatric Research, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Giulia Barbieri
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Alexander J. Westermann
- Institute of Molecular Infection Biology (IMIB), University of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany
- Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Wuerzburg, Germany
| | - Till Sauerwein
- Institute of Molecular Infection Biology (IMIB), University of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany
- ZB MED, Information Centre for Life Sciences, Cologne, Germany
| | - Konrad U. Foerstner
- Institute of Molecular Infection Biology (IMIB), University of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany
- ZB MED, Information Centre for Life Sciences, Cologne, Germany
- TH Koeln, University of Applied Sciences, Cologne, Germany
| | | | - Brandon J. Kim
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
- Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham Heesink School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
- University of Alabama Center of Convergent Biosciences and Medicine, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
- University of Alabama Life Research, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
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Vollmuth N, Sin J, Kim BJ. Host-microbe interactions at the blood-brain barrier through the lens of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived brain-like endothelial cells. mBio 2024; 15:e0286223. [PMID: 38193670 PMCID: PMC10865987 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02862-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Microbe-induced meningoencephalitis/meningitis is a life-threatening infection of the central nervous system (CNS) that occurs when pathogens are able to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and gain access to the CNS. The BBB consists of highly specialized brain endothelial cells that exhibit specific properties to allow tight regulation of CNS homeostasis and prevent pathogen crossing. However, during meningoencephalitis/meningitis, the BBB fails to protect the CNS. Modeling the BBB remains a challenge due to the specialized characteristics of these cells. In this review, we cover the induced pluripotent stem cell-derived, brain-like endothelial cell model during host-pathogen interaction, highlighting the strengths and recent work on various pathogens known to interact with the BBB. As stem cell technologies are becoming more prominent, the stem cell-derived, brain-like endothelial cell model has been able to reveal new insights in vitro, which remain challenging with other in vitro cell-based models consisting of primary human brain endothelial cells and immortalized human brain endothelial cell lines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadine Vollmuth
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
| | - Jon Sin
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
| | - Brandon J. Kim
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
- Center for Convergent Biosciences and Medicine, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
- Alabama Life Research Institute, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
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Prestianni L, Espinal ER, Hathcock SF, Vollmuth N, Wang P, Holler RA, Liu S, Kim BJ, Bao Y. Synthesis and Characterization of Quercetin-Iron Complex Nanoparticles for Overcoming Drug Resistance. Pharmaceutics 2023; 15:pharmaceutics15041041. [PMID: 37111527 PMCID: PMC10144594 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15041041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2023] [Revised: 02/16/2023] [Accepted: 03/17/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Quercetin, one of the major natural flavonoids, has demonstrated great pharmacological potential as an antioxidant and in overcoming drug resistance. However, its low aqueous solubility and poor stability limit its potential applications. Previous studies suggest that the formation of quercetin-metal complexes could increase quercetin stability and biological activity. In this paper, we systematically investigated the formation of quercetin-iron complex nanoparticles by varying the ligand-to-metal ratios with the goal of increasing the aqueous solubility and stability of quercetin. It was found that quercetin-iron complex nanoparticles could be reproducibly synthesized with several ligand-to-iron ratios at room temperature. The UV-Vis spectra of the nanoparticles indicated that nanoparticle formation greatly increased the stability and solubility of quercetin. Compared to free quercetin, the quercetin-iron complex nanoparticles exhibited enhanced antioxidant activities and elongated effects. Our preliminary cellular evaluation suggests that these nanoparticles had minimal cytotoxicity and could effectively block the efflux pump of cells, indicating their potential for cancer treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas Prestianni
- Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
| | - Eric R Espinal
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
| | - Sarah F Hathcock
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
| | - Nadine Vollmuth
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
| | - Pixiang Wang
- Department of Chemistry and Physics, Center for Materials and Manufacturing Sciences, Troy University, Troy, AL 36082, USA
| | - Robert A Holler
- Alabama Analytical Research Center, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
| | - Shaoyang Liu
- Department of Chemistry and Physics, Center for Materials and Manufacturing Sciences, Troy University, Troy, AL 36082, USA
| | - Brandon J Kim
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Heersink School of Medicine, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35487, USA
- Center for Convergent Biosciences and Medicine, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
- Alabama Life Research Institute, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
| | - Yuping Bao
- Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
- Center for Convergent Biosciences and Medicine, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
- Alabama Life Research Institute, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
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Mamana J, Humber GM, Espinal ER, Seo S, Vollmuth N, Sin J, Kim BJ. Coxsackievirus B3 infects and disrupts human induced-pluripotent stem cell derived brain-like endothelial cells. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2023; 13:1171275. [PMID: 37139492 PMCID: PMC10149843 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1171275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2023] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 05/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) is a significant human pathogen that is commonly found worldwide. CVB3 among other enteroviruses, are the leading causes of aseptic meningo-encephalitis which can be fatal especially in young children. How the virus gains access to the brain is poorly-understood, and the host-virus interactions that occur at the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is even less-characterized. The BBB is a highly specialized biological barrier consisting primarily of brain endothelial cells which possess unique barrier properties and facilitate the passage of nutrients into the brain while restricting access to toxins and pathogens including viruses. To determine the effects of CVB3 infection on the BBB, we utilized a model of human induced-pluripotent stem cell-derived brain-like endothelial cells (iBECs) to ascertain if CVB3 infection may alter barrier cell function and overall survival. In this study, we determined that these iBECs indeed are susceptible to CVB3 infection and release high titers of extracellular virus. We also determined that infected iBECs maintain high transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) during early infection despite possessing high viral load. TEER progressively declines at later stages of infection. Interestingly, despite the high viral burden and TEER disruptions at later timepoints, infected iBEC monolayers remain intact, indicating a low degree of late-stage virally-mediated cell death, which may contribute to prolonged viral shedding. We had previously reported that CVB3 infections rely on the activation of transient receptor vanilloid potential 1 (TRPV1) and found that inhibiting TRPV1 activity with SB-366791 significantly limited CVB3 infection of HeLa cervical cancer cells. Similarly in this study, we observed that treating iBECs with SB-366791 significantly reduced CVB3 infection, which suggests that not only can this drug potentially limit viral entry into the brain, but also demonstrates that this infection model could be a valuable platform for testing antiviral treatments of neurotropic viruses. In all, our findings elucidate the unique effects of CVB3 infection on the BBB and shed light on potential mechanisms by which the virus can initiate infections in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Mamana
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, United States
| | - Gabrielle M. Humber
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, United States
| | - Eric R. Espinal
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, United States
| | - Soojung Seo
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, United States
| | - Nadine Vollmuth
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, United States
| | - Jon Sin
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, United States
- *Correspondence: Jon Sin, ; Brandon J. Kim,
| | - Brandon J. Kim
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, United States
- Department of Microbiology, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States
- Center for Convergent Biosciences and Medicine, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, United States
- Alabama Life Research Institute, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, United States
- *Correspondence: Jon Sin, ; Brandon J. Kim,
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Al-Ahmad AJ. Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Based Model of the Blood-Brain at 10 Years: A Retrospective on Past and Current Disease Models. Handb Exp Pharmacol 2023; 281:141-156. [PMID: 36943490 DOI: 10.1007/164_2023_645] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/23/2023]
Abstract
The initial discovery and derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by Yamanaka and colleagues in 2006 revolutionized the field of personalized medicine, as it opened the possibility to model diseases using patient-derived stem cells. A decade of adoption of iPSCs within the community of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) significantly opened the door for modeling diseases at the BBB, a task until then considered challenging, if not impossible.In this book chapter, we provided an extensive review of the literature on the use of iPSC-based models of the human BBB to model neurological diseases including infectious diseases (COVID-19, Streptococcus, Neisseria) neurodevelopmental diseases (adrenoleukodystrophy, Allan-Herndon-Dudley Syndrome, Batten's disease, GLUT1 deficiency syndrome), and neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer's disease, the current findings and observations, but also the challenges and limitations inherent to the use of iPSC-based models in reproducing the human BBB during health and diseases in a Petri dish.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abraham J Al-Ahmad
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Amarillo, TX, USA.
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