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Objectives: Bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) are an irresistible choice for use in stem cell therapy and regenerative medicine. BMSCs osteoblastic differentiation is also important in bone development, diseases, malignancies, and cancers studies. Wnt signaling pathway antagonists, Dickkopf-1 (Dkk 1), Secreted Frizzled-Related Proteins (sFRPs), and Wnt Inhibitory Factor 1 (Wif1) play important roles in inducing osteoblastic differentiation. This study is the first to investigate the association between DNA methylation and gene expression of Dkk1, sFRP2, sFRP4, and Wif1 during BMSCs osteoblastic differentiation., Methods: Human BMSCs were isolated and characterized using flow cytometry. Then, cells were treated with osteo-differentiation medium for three weeks. Alizarin red S staining and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (alkaline phosphatase/osteocalcin) were performed for confirmation. The expression of Dkk 1, sFRP2, sFRP4, and Wif1 genes was evaluated at days 7, 14, and 21 using real-time PCR. Methylation-specific PCR (MSP) was performed to detect the methylation status of the promoters of the genes., Results: Data showed significant decreases (P < 0.05) during various days of BMSCs differentiation, while the promoters of the genes remained mostly un-methylated., Conclusions: The down-regulation of Dkk 1, sFRP2, sFRP4, and Wif1 regulates various stages of human BMSCs during osteoblastic differentiation. DNA methylation does not interfere in the down-regulation of these genes, except for Wif1. We propose that the Wnt antagonist gene promoters should remain un-methylated during osteoblastic differentiation of BMSCs and that the down-regulation of these genes may contribute to other epigenetic mechanisms, other than DNA methylation, which implicitly indicates the role of DNA methylation in osteogenic cancers., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Japanese Association for Oral Biology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Currently, mushrooms have been used in traditional and folk medicines for their therapeutic activities, such as antibiotic, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antileukemic and immunomodulatory actions. This investigation evaluates the anti-invasive, antiproliferative and cytotoxic effects of Pleurotus ostreatus (Pleurotaceae) on leukemia cell lines., Methods: The proliferation of KG-1 cells was measured by using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay after treatment with gradient dilutions of P. ostreatus extract. Then, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the extract was determined. Moreover, the proliferation of Jurkat cells and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs), a cancerous cell line and normal body cells, respectively, was considered. The apoptotic morphology of treated KG-1 cells was evaluated with Giemsa staining. The invasion and migration of cells were evaluated using transwell invasion assay. Thereafter, the rates of apoptosis and necrosis were measured by using flow cytometry, and BAX and MMP-9 gene expression were evaluated using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction as apoptotic and metastatic genes, respectively., Results: The MIC of the extract was determined to be 1 mg/mL after 48 h. According to the results, the extract decreased the proliferation of leukemia cell lines (KG-1 and Jurkat cells) but had no antiproliferative effects on BMSCs. Moreover, KG-1 cell migration and MMP-9 gene expression decreased after the treatment, and the rate of apoptosis and BAX gene expression increased significantly., Conclusions: According to the efficient therapeutic properties of P. ostreatus on leukemia cell lines, this mushroom could be introduced as a natural medicine to cure leukemic patients who suffer from the harmful side effects and enormous costs of chemotherapy.

Background Recent studies have introduced Pleurotus ostreatus (Pleurotaceae) as a herbal medicine for treating different types of cancer. This survey utilizes P. ostreatus and doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) alone and then with hyperthermia to investigate the erythroleukemia cell line. This study evaluates and compares the apoptotic and necrotic effects of various treatments on the KG-1 cell line. Methods The proliferation of KG-1 cells was measured by using a tetrazolium salt (MTT)-based colorimetric assay during 96 h after treatment by gradient dilutions of 100 ng/mL to 100 mg/mL of P. ostreatus methanol extract and then the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined and was applied in additional experiments. Afterward, the cells were treated using P. ostreatus extract, DOX (6.95 mg/L), and hyperthermia (42 and 44 °C), separately and then applying hyperthermia. Finally, the ratios of apoptosis and necrosis after 24 h incubation were evaluated by using flow cytometry. Results The MIC of the extract was determined (1 mg/mL), which significantly increased the ratio of apoptosis rather than necrosis, whereas the DOX treatment primarily induced necrosis on the KG-1 cells. The anticancer effects of the mushroom extract were significantly increased when it was combined with thermotherapy, which exhibited apoptotic effects at 42 °C but induced necrosis at 44 °C. Conclusions The results suggest that P. ostreatus extract induces apoptosis on KG-1 cells and its anticancer effects are significantly increased in combination with thermotherapy. Therefore, P. ostreatus could be considered as an alternative with anticancer effect for further studies in erythroleukemia patients.

A novel design of gold-coated iron oxide nanoparticles was fabricated as a potential delivery system to improve the efficiency and stability of d, l-sulforaphane as an anticancer drug. To this purpose, the surface of gold-coated iron oxide nanoparticles was modified for sulforaphane delivery via furnishing its surface with thiolated polyethylene glycol-folic acid and thiolated polyethylene glycol-FITC. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by different techniques such as FTIR, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The average diameters of the synthesized nanoparticles before and after sulforaphane loading were obtained ∼ 33 nm and ∼ 38 nm, respectively, when ∼ 2.8 mmol/g of sulforaphane was loaded. The result of cell viability assay which was confirmed by apoptosis assay on the human breast cancer cells (MCF-7 line) as a model of in vitro-cancerous cells, proved that the bare nanoparticles showed little inherent cytotoxicity, whereas the sulforaphane-loaded nanoparticles were cytotoxic. The expression rate of the anti-apoptotic genes (bcl-2 and bcl-xL), and the pro-apoptotic genes (bax and bak) were quantified, and it was found that the expression rate of bcl-2 and bcl-xL genes significantly were decreased when MCF-7 cells were incubated by sulforaphane-loaded nanoparticles. The sulforaphane-loaded into the designed gold-coated iron oxide nanoparticles, acceptably induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells.

Background: Development of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine has led to designing scaffolds and their modification to provide a better microenvironment which mimics the natural niche of the cells. Gelatin surface modification was applied to improve scaffold flexibility and cytocompatibility., Methods: PLLA/PCL aligned fibrous scaffold was fabricated using electrospinning method. ADSCs were seeded after O2 plasma treatment and gelatin coating of the scaffolds. The morphological and mechanical properties of blends were assessed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), tensile test and ATR-FTIR. The cells proliferation was evaluated by MTT assay., Results: Based on the results, it is supposed that gelatin coating is a brilliant method of surface modification which significantly increases the mechanical properties of scaffold without any changes on the construction or on the direction of nanofibers which conducts cell's elongation. MTT analysis exhibited that ADSCs attachment, viability and proliferation significantly (p < 0.05) increased after gelatin treatment., Conclusion: Gelatin surface modification is a highly beneficial method to improve cytocompatibility, flexibility and mechanical features of the scaffolds which doesn't affect the nanofibers construction. Proliferation of Adipose Derived Stem Cells (ADSCs) as a remarkable source of stem cells was investigated for the first time on PLLA/PCL hybrid scaffold.