Construction of fibronectin conditional gene knock-out mice and the effect of fibronectin gene knockout on hematopoietic, biochemical and immune parameters in mice

Epithelial-like transport of mineral distinguishes bone formation from other connective tissues

We review unique properties of bone formation including current understanding of mechanisms of bone mineral transport. We focus on formation only; mechanism of bone degradation is a separate topic not considered. Bone matrix is compared to other connective tissues composed mainly of the same proteins, but without the specialized mechanism for continuous transport and deposition of mineral. Indeed other connective tissues add mechanisms to prevent mineral formation. We start with the epithelial-like surfaces that mediate transport of phosphate to be incorporated into hydroxyapatite in bone, or in its ancestral tissue, the tooth. These include several phosphate producing or phosphate transport-related proteins with special expression in large quantities in bone, particularly in the bone-surface osteoblasts. In all connective tissues including bone, the proteins that constitute the protein matrix are mainly type I collagen and γ-carboxylate-containing small proteins in similar molar quantities to collagen. Specialized proteins that regulate connective tissue structure and formation are surprisingly similar in mineralized and non-mineralized tissues. While serum calcium and phosphate are adequate to precipitate mineral, specialized mechanisms normally prevent mineral formation except in bone, where continuous transport and deposition of mineral occurs.

Traditional Chinese medicine for treating aplastic anemia

Aplastic anemia (AA) is a bone marrow failure disease caused by T cell hyperfunction. Although the overall response rate has been improved by immunosuppressive therapy (IST) plus Eltrombopag, 30% of patients have either no response or relapse. We therefore attempted to find other ways to improve the outcomes of AA patients. Traditional Chinese medicine has the advantages of low cost, reasonable effects, and few side effects. More and more clinical studies have confirmed that traditional Chinese medicine has a beneficial role in treating AA patients. This article reviews the potential mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine or its active ingredients in the treatment of AA. These include improving the bone marrow microenvironment, regulating immunity, and affecting the fate of hematopoietic stem cells. This provides useful information for further treatment of AA with integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine and the development of new treatment strategies.

Plasma fibronectin can affect the cytokine profile and monocytes/macrophages function in addition to predicting the prognosis of advanced sepsis

The value of plasma fibronectin (pFN) in the diagnosis and prognosis of sepsis has not been fully established. Previous studies finding that pFN is significantly reduced in sepsis, however, whether reduced pFn affects the prognosis of sepsis has not been clarified. Here, we detected and analyzed pFN and other conventional inflammatory markers in advanced sepsis patients and performed correlation analysis with SOFA score. We also used Fn gene conditional knockout mice which were performed by cecum ligation and puncture (CLP) to investigate the effect of FN deficiency on sepsis prognosis. We found, compared with procalcitonin, c-reactive protein, and interleukin-6, pFN was more correlated with SOFA score in advanced sepsis patients (r -.720, p < .001). In animal experiments, Fn gene knockout mice showed significantly greater mortality after CLP compared with the control group because of inhibited phagocytosis and bacterial clearance ability of macrophages, with double cytokine storm. Furthermore, FN can regulate macrophages through the integrin α5β1/Fak/Src signaling pathway. Overall, we found pFN can more accurately reflect the severity and prognosis of advanced sepsis. The absence of FN altered the cytokine storm and phagocytic function of macrophages, suggesting that FN could be a potential therapeutic target in sepsis.