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Stem cell therapy has emerged as a promising approach for treatment of a number of diseases, including delayed and non-healing wounds. However, targeted systemic delivery of therapeutic cells to the dysfunctional tissues remains one formidable challenge. Herein, we present a targeted nanocarrier-mediated cell delivery method by coating the surface of the cell to be delivered with dendrimer nanocarriers modified with adhesion molecules. Infused nanocarrier-coated cells reach to destination via recognition and association with the counterpart adhesion molecules highly or selectively expressed on the activated endothelium in diseased tissues. Once anchored on the activated endothelium, nanocarriers-coated transporting cells undergo transendothelial migration, extravasation and homing to the targeted tissues to execute their therapeutic role. We now demonstrate feasibility, efficacy and safety of our targeted nanocarrier for delivery of bone marrow cells (BMC) to cutaneous wound tissues and grafted corneas and its advantages over conventional BMC transplantation in mouse models for wound healing and neovascularization. This versatile platform is suited for targeted systemic delivery of virtually any type of therapeutic cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF) play a crucial role in regulating cancer progression, yet the molecular determinant that governs the tumor regulatory role of CAF remains unknown. Using a mouse melanoma model in which exogenous melanoma cells were grafted on the skin of two lines of mice where the genetic activation or inactivation of Notch1 signaling specifically occurs in natural host stromal fibroblasts, we demonstrated that Notch1 pathway activity could determine the tumor-promoting or tumor-suppressing phenotype in CAF. CAF carrying elevated Notch1 activity significantly inhibited melanoma growth and invasion, while those with a null Notch1 promoted melanoma invasion. These findings identify the Notch1 pathway as a molecular determinant that controls the regulatory role of CAF in melanoma skin growth and invasion, unveiling Notch1 signaling as a potential therapeutic target for melanoma and potentially other solid tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatoma-derived growth factor-related protein-3 (Hdgfrp3 or HRP-3) was recently reported as a neurotrophic factor and is upregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma to promote cancer cell survival. Here we identified HRP-3 as a new endothelial ligand and characterized its in vitro and in vivo functional roles and molecular signaling. We combined open reading frame phage display with multi-round in vivo binding selection to enrich retinal endothelial ligands, which were systematically identified by next generation DNA sequencing. One of the identified endothelial ligands was HRP-3. HRP-3 expression in the retina and brain was characterized by Western blot and immunohistochemistry. Cell proliferation assay showed that HRP-3 stimulated the growth of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). HRP-3 induced tube formation of HUVECs in culture. Wound healing assay indicated that HRP-3 promoted endothelial cell migration. HRP-3 was further confirmed for its in vitro angiogenic activity by spheroid sprouting assay. HRP-3 extrinsically activated the extracellular-signal-regulated kinase ½ (ERK1/2) pathway in endothelial cells. The angiogenic activity of HRP-3 was independently verified by mouse cornea pocket assay. Furthermore, in vivo Matrigel plug assay corroborated HRP-3 activity to promote new blood vessel formation. These results demonstrated that HRP-3 is a novel angiogenic factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: p16 Methylation frequently occurs in carcinogenesis. While it has been hypothesized that the p16 methylation states are dynamically maintained in cancer cells, direct evidence supporting this hypothesis has not been available until now. Methods: A fusion cell model was established which reprogrammed the native DNA methylation pattern of the cells. The methylation status of the p16 alleles was then repeatedly quantitatively analyzed in the fusion monoclonal, parental cancer cell lines (p16-completely methylated-AGS and unmethylated-MGC803), and HCT116 non-fusion cell using DHPLC and bisulfite sequencing. Histone methylation was analyzed using chromatin immuno-precipitation (ChIP)-PCR. P16 expression status was determined using immuno-staining and RT-PCR. Results: The methylation status for the majority of the p16 alleles was stably maintained in the fusion monoclonal cells after up to 60 passages. Most importantly, focal de novo methylation, demethylation, and hydroxymethylation were consistently observed within about 27% of the p16 alleles in the fusion monoclones, but not the homozygously methylated or unmethylated parental cells. Furthermore, subclones of the monoclones consistently maintained the same p16 methylation pattern. A similar phenomenon was also observed using the p16 hemi-methylated HCT116 non-fusion cancer cell line. Interestingly, transcription was not observed in p16 alleles that were hydroxymethylated with an antisense-strand-specific pattern. Also, the levels of H3K9 and H3K4 trimethylation in the fusion cells were found to be slightly lower than the parental AGS and MGC803 cells, respectively. Conclusion: The present study provides the first direct evidence confirming that the methylation states of p16 CpG islands is not only homeostatically maintained, but also accompanied by a dynamic process of transient focal methylation, demethylation, and hydroxymethylation in cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]