Chondroitin sulfate activates B cells in vitro, expands CD138+ cells in vivo, and interferes with established humoral immune responses

Future proofing of chondroitin sulphate production: Importance of sustainability and quality for the end-applications

Chondroitin sulphates (CSs) are the most well-known glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) found in any living organism, from microorganisms to invertebrates and vertebrates (including humans), and provide several health benefits. The applications of CSs are numerous including tissue engineering, osteoarthritis treatment, antiviral, cosmetics, and skincare applications. The current commercial production of CSs mostly uses animal, bovine, porcine, and avian tissues as well as marine organisms, marine mammals, sharks, and other fish. The production process consists of tissue hydrolysis, protein removal, and purification using various methods. Mostly, these are chemical-dependent and are complex, multi-step processes. There is a developing trend for abandonment of harsh extraction chemicals and their substitution with different green-extraction technologies, however, these are still in their infancy. The quality of CSs is the first and foremost requirement for end-applications and is dependent on the extraction and purification methodologies used. The final products will show different bio-functional properties, depending on their origin and production methodology. This is a comprehensive review of the characteristics, properties, uses, sources, and extraction methods of CSs. This review emphasises the need for extraction and purification processes to be environmentally friendly and gentle, followed by product analysis and quality control to ensure the expected bioactivity of CSs.

Investigation of candidate molecular biomarkers for expression profile analysis of the Gene expression omnibus (GEO) in acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL)

Much progress has been made in understanding the mechanism of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). However, for adult ALL, there is still a lack of an effective treatment. In the present study, we first used the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between ALL cell lines and Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin cell lines. Then, the GEO database was also used to detect the DEGs in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Reh) cells transfected with a normal control or a constitutively active variant of the IkB kinase β. Finally, we found that three key DEGs (CCL5, FSCN1, and HS3ST1) are involved in proliferation and apoptosis according to Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses. Finally, we determined that all three target genes that participate in proliferation and apoptosis are regulated via the NF-kB signaling pathway.

Synthesis and Biocompatibility Characterizations of in Situ Chondroitin Sulfate-Gelatin Hydrogel for Tissue Engineering

Novel hydrogel composed of both chondroitin sulfate (CS) and gelatin was developed for better cellular interaction through two step double crosslinking of N-(3-diethylpropyl)-N-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) chemistries and then click chemistry. EDC chemistry was proceeded during grafting of amino acid dihydrazide (ADH) to carboxylic groups in CS and gelatin network in separate reactions, thus obtaining CS-ADH and gelatin-ADH, respectively. CS-acrylate and gelatin-TCEP was obtained through a second EDC chemistry of the unreacted free amines of CS-ADH and gelatin-ADH with acrylic acid and tri(carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP), respectively. In situ CS-gelatin hydrogel was obtained via click chemistry by simple mixing of aqueous solutions of both CS-acrylate and gelatin-TCEP. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy showed formation of the new chemical bonds between CS and gelatin in CS-gelatin hydrogel network. SEM demonstrated microporous structure of the hydrogel. Within serial precursor concentrations of the CS-gelatin hydrogels studied, they showed trends of the reaction rates of gelation, where the higher concentration, the quicker the gelation occurred. In vitro studies, including assessment of cell viability (live and dead assay), cytotoxicity, biocompatibility via direct contacts of the hydrogels with cells, as well as measurement of inflammatory responses, showed their excellent biocompatibility. Eventually, the test results verified a promising potency for further application of CS-gelatin hydrogel in many biomedical fields, including drug delivery and tissue engineering by mimicking extracellular matrix components of tissues such as collagen and CS in cartilage.

Biocompatible complex coated with glycosaminoglycan for gene delivery

The purpose of this study was to develop a ternary complex of plasmid DNA (pDNA) electrostatically assembled with dendrigraft poly-l-lysine (DGL) and biodegradable glycosaminoglycan for effective and secure gene delivery. High gene expression of pDNA/DGL complex was confirmed with slight cytotoxicity and erythrocyte agglutination. Anionic ternary complexes of 55.4-223.8 nm were formed by the addition of a glycosaminoglycan such as chondroitin sulfate A (CS-A), chondroitin sulfate B (CS-B), chondroitin sulfate C (CS-C) or hyaluronic acid (HA). Using the cell line B16-F10, most of the ternary complexes showed only weak gene expression and little cytotoxicity, although the pDNA/DGL/CS-A complexes maintained a certain level of gene expression. In particular, the pDNA/DGL/CS-A8 complexes showed significantly higher gene expression than pDNA/DGL complexes in the presence of fetal bovine serum. Gene expression from the pDNA/DGL/CS-A8 complex was inhibited by a high concentration of CS-A and endocytosis inhibitors. After intravenous administration of the pDNA/DGL/CS-A8 complex and the pDNA/DGL complex into ddY mice, high gene expression was observed in the reticuloendothelial systems, the pDNA/DGL/CS-A complex is expected to be useful for gene therapy.

Proteoglycan expression correlates with the phenotype of malignant and non-malignant EBV-positive B-cell lines

The involvement of proteoglycans (PGs) in EBV-host interactions and lymphomagenesis remains poorly investigated. In this study, expression of major proteoglycans (syndecan-1, glypican-1, perlecan, versican, brevican, aggrecan, NG2, serglycin, decorin, biglycan, lumican, CD44), heparan sulphate (HS) metabolic system (EXT1/2, NDST1/2, GLCE, HS2ST1, HS3ST1/2, HS6ST1/2, SULF1/2, HPSE) and extracellular matrix (ECM) components (collagen 1A1, fibronectin, elastin) in primary B cells and EBV carrying cell lines with different phenotypes, patterns of EBV-host cell interaction and viral latency stages (type I-III) was investigated. Primary B cells expressed a wide repertoire of PGs (dominated by serglycin and CD44) and ECM components. Lymphoblastoid EBV+ B cell lines (LCLs) showed specific PG expression with down-regulation of CD44 and ECM components and up-regulation of serglycin and perlecan/HSPG2. For Burkitt's lymphoma cells (BL), serglycin was down-regulated in BL type III cells and perlecan in type I BL cells. The biosynthetic machinery for HS was active in all cell lines, with some tendency to be down-regulated in BL cells. 5'-aza-dC and/or Trichostatin A resulted in transcriptional upregulation of the genes, suggesting that low expression of ECM components, proteoglycan core proteins and HS biosynthetic system is due to epigenetic suppression in type I cells. Taken together, our data show that proteoglycans are expressed in primary B lymphocytes whereas they are not or only partly expressed in EBV-carrying cell lines, depending on their latency type program.