Vitronectin-derived bioactive peptide prevents spondyloarthritis by modulating Th17/Treg imbalance in mice with curdlan-induced spondyloarthritis

Why Treg should be the focus of cancer immunotherapy: The latest thought

Regulatory T cells are a subgroup of T cells with immunomodulatory functions. Different from most cytotoxic T cells and helper T cells, they play a supporting role in the immune system. What's more, regulatory T cells often play an immunosuppressive role, which mainly plays a role in maintaining the stability of the immune system and regulating the immune response in the body. However, recent studies have shown that not only playing a role in autoimmune diseases, organ transplantation, and other aspects, regulatory T cells can also play a role in the immune escape of tumors in the body, through various mechanisms to help tumor cells escape from the demic immune system, weakening the anti-cancer effect in the body. For a better understanding of the role that regulatory T cells can play in cancer, and to be able to use regulatory T cells for tumor immunotherapy more quickly. This review focuses on the research progress of various mechanisms of regulatory T cells in the tumor environment, the related research of tumor cells acting on regulatory T cells, and the existing various therapeutic methods acting on regulatory T cells.

Leveraging Exosomes as the Next-Generation Bio-Shuttles: The Next Biggest Approach against Th17 Cell Catastrophe

In recent years, the launch of clinical-grade exosomes is rising expeditiously, as they represent a new powerful approach for the delivery of advanced therapies and for diagnostic purposes for various diseases. Exosomes are membrane-bound extracellular vesicles that can act as biological messengers between cells, in the context of health and disease. In comparison to several lab-based drug carriers, exosome exhibits high stability, accommodates diverse cargo loads, elicits low immunogenicity and toxicity, and therefore manifests tremendous perspectives in the development of therapeutics. The efforts made to spur exosomes in drugging the untreatable targets are encouraging. Currently, T helper (Th) 17 cells are considered the most prominent factor in the establishment of autoimmunity and several genetic disorders. Current reports have indicated the importance of targeting the development of Th17 cells and the secretion of its paracrine molecule, interleukin (IL)-17. However, the present-day targeted approaches exhibit drawbacks, such as high cost of production, rapid transformation, poor bioavailability, and importantly, causing opportunistic infections that ultimately hamper their clinical applications. To overcome this hurdle, the potential use of exosomes as vectors seem to be a promising approach for Th17 cell-targeted therapies. With this standpoint, this review discusses this new concept by providing a snapshot of exosome biogenesis, summarizes the current clinical trials of exosomes in several diseases, analyzes the prospect of exosomes as an established drug carrier and delineates the present challenges, with an emphasis on their practical applications in targeting Th17 cells in diseases. We further decode the possible future scope of exosome bioengineering for targeted drug delivery against Th17 cells and its catastrophe.

A peptide from wheat germ abolishes the senile osteoporosis by regulating OPG/RANKL/RANK/TRAF6 signaling pathway

BACKGROUND

Oxidative stress played a key role in the development of bone brittleness and is an important pathogenic factor of senile osteoporosis. A variety of animal and plant-derived peptides have been shown to have significant anti-osteoporosis effects in vivo and in vitro.

PURPOSE

In this study, we aim to explore the possible mechanism of wheat germ peptide ADWGGPLPH on senile osteoporosis.

STUDY DESIGN

Naturally, aged rats were used as animal models of senile osteoporosis.

METHODS

Wheat germ peptide ADWGGPLPH was administered from 9-months-old to 21-months-old, and the effect of ADWGGPLPH on preventing senile osteoporosis was evaluated by measuring serum biochemical indexes, bone histomorphometry, bone biomechanics, and other indexes to elucidate the mechanism of ADWGGPLPH in delaying senile osteoporosis by detecting the expression of osteoporosis-related proteins.

RESULTS

The results showed that ADWGGPLPH could effectively reduce the level of oxidative stress and improve the microstructure and bone mineral density in senile osteoporosis rats. In addition, ADWGGPLPH could improve the proliferation and differentiation activity of osteoblasts and effectively inhibit osteoclasts' differentiation by regulating the OPG/RANKL/RANK/TRAF6 pathway.

CONCLUSION

ADWGGPLPH from wheat germ exhibited a notably effect on senile osteoporosis and has a high potential in the development of the nutrient regimen to against senile osteoporosis.

Vitronectin-Derived Peptide Promotes Reparative Dentin Formation

Exposed dental pulp can maintain its vitality through a pulp-capping procedure with biocompatible materials, followed by reparative dentin formation. Our previous study demonstrated that a vitronectin-derived peptide (VnP-16) promotes osteoblast differentiation and concomitantly restrains osteoclast differentiation and resorptive function. In this study, we aimed to demonstrate that VnP-16 promotes odontoblast differentiation, mineralization, and reparative dentin formation in a pulp exposure model using a rat tooth. VnP-16 showed no cytotoxicity and promoted cellular behavior in human dental pulp cells, enhancing their differentiation into odontoblast-like cells and mineralization, effects that are comparable to those obtained with vitronectin. In a rat pulp exposure model, VnP-16 showed mild inflammatory responses at 2 and 4 wk or none. Mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) demonstrated a tendency of early formation of reparative dentin at 2 wk when compared with recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2 (rhBMP-2) and VnP-16. However, VnP-16 induced reparative dentin formation similar to MTA and rhBMP-2 without inflammation at 4 wk. In addition, VnP-16 showed a thicker and homogeneous reparative dentin formation versus MTA and rhBMP-2. Collectively, these results suggest that VnP-16 can be a useful, direct pulp-capping agent for highly qualified reparative dentin formation by promoting cell behavior and odontoblastic differentiation of human dental pulp cells.