Biomedicines

The Special Issue “Advances in Novel Drug Discovery, Synthesis, and Evaluation” brings together five original research articles and one narrative review examining how experimental interventions might become useful therapies [...]

Objectives: Ovarian cancer (OC) is the gynecological malignancy with the highest mortality rate. Preclinical studies have shown that dual blockade of immune checkpoint proteins (ICPs), such as PD-1 and TIGIT, may be beneficial for OC patients. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of PD-1, TIGIT, and DNAM-1 in NK cells in three OC environments—i.e., peripheral blood (PB), peritoneal fluid (PF), and tumor tissue (TT)—and their soluble forms in plasma and PF to explore their clinical significance. Methods: The expression of ICPs on NK cells was analyzed via flow cytometry. The concentrations of soluble forms of these ICPs were measured in plasma and PF via ELISA. The obtained results were correlated with the clinicopathological features of OC patients. Results: We observed an increased percentage of PD-1⁺ NK cells in tumor tissue (p < 0.05), as well as TIGIT⁺ (p < 0.001) and DNAM-1⁺ NK cells in PF of patients with OC (p < 0.05). Soluble PD-1 (sPD-1) concentration was higher in PF than in plasma (p < 0.0001) and higher in plasma of OC patients than in controls (p < 0.001), while soluble TIGIT (sTIGIT) levels were elevated in plasma of OC patients compared with controls (p < 0.05). NK cell phenotypic alterations were also associated with selected clinicopathological features of OC (i.e., FIGO disease advancement, tumor type according to Kurman and Shih, and grade). The percentage of NK cells in PF was positively associated with age (p < 0.01) and negatively associated with BMI (p < 0.05). Conclusions: OC is characterized by distinct compartment-specific patterns of PD-1, TIGIT, and DNAM-1 expression on NK cells, accompanied by altered soluble ICP profiles. These phenotypic patterns may help define the immune landscape of the ovarian cancer microenvironment.

Background: Optimal healing of surgical skin wounds remains a critical issue in modern surgery. This study evaluated the effect of preoperative administration (before wound creation) of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and stromal vascular fraction (SVF) on wound healing in a rabbit full-thickness excisional skin wound model. Methods: Forty animals were randomized into five groups: control (no treatment), 0.9% NaCl, SVF, PRP, and PRP + SVF. Biological agents were injected intradermally 24 h before standardized 2-cm excisional wounds were created. Histological, morphometric, IHC and contraction indices (SCI, DCI, WCI) were assessed at days 7, 14, and 30. Results: Preoperative administration of PRP + SVF significantly enhanced cutaneous wound repair, with early re-epithelialization evident by day 7 and complete epithelial restoration by day 14 compared with the control group. Histomorphometric analysis revealed that the PRP + SVF group demonstrated the highest angiogenic response on day 7 (median 24 vs. 12 in the control group, p = 0.027), the greatest regenerative tissue thickness on day 14 (84.5% vs. 62.5%, p = 0.021), and the highest extracellular matrix remodeling index on day 30 (0.655 vs. 0.404), accompanied by regeneration of skin appendages (median score 3 vs. 1 in the control group, p = 0.005). Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that preoperative administration of PRP combined with SVF improves the histological and histomorphometric outcomes of cutaneous wound healing. These preliminary findings provide a rationale for further experimental studies to validate and optimize this approach, to elucidate the underlying mechanisms, and to clarify the specific contribution of preoperative tissue conditioning.