Novel thermo-responsive elastin-like oligopeptides containing cell-binding epitope (Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser sequence); arginine-glycine-aspartic acid-serine (RGDS)-elastin-like peptides (ELP) and RGDS-deg-ELP; were newly prepared as building blocks of self-...
Tumor-Associated Macrophages (TAM) are key components of the reactive stroma of tumors. In most, although not all cancers, their presence is associated with poor patient prognosis. In addition to releasing cytokines and growth factors for tumor and e...
The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 infection induced lung inflammation characterized by cytokine storm and fulminant immune response of both resident and migrated immune cells, accelerating alveolar damage. In this work we identified memb...
Nanomedicine has been under investigation for several years to improve the efficiency of chemotherapeutics, having minimal pharmacological effects clinically. Ineffective tumor penetration is mediated by tumor environments, including limited vascular...
Nanotechnologies have been integrated into drug delivery, and non-invasive imaging applications, into nanostructured scaffolds for the manipulation of cells. The objective of this work was to determine how the physico-chemical properties of magnetic...
The success of stem cell therapies relies heavily on our ability to control their fate in vitro during expansion to ensure an appropriate supply. The biophysical properties of the cell culture environment have been recognised as a potent stimuli infl...
Biological materials derived from extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins have garnered interest as their composition is very similar to that of native tissue. Herein, we report the use of human cornea derived decellularized ECM (dECM) microparticles dis...
Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are identifiable members of proteolytic enzymes that can degrade a wide range of proteins in the extracellular matrix (ECM). MMPs can be categorized into six groups based on their substrate specificity and structural...
The complexity of the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment makes studying hematological malignancies in vitro a challenging task. Three-dimensional cell cultures are being actively studied, particularly due to their ability to serve as a bridge of the g...
Lung fibrosis results from the synergic interplay between regenerative deficits of the alveolar epithelium and dysregulated mechanisms of repair in response to alveolar and vascular damage, which is followed by progressive fibroblast and myofibroblas...
Obesity is a modern health problem that has reached pandemic proportions. It is an established risk factor for carcinogenesis, however, evidence for the contribution of adipose tissue to the metastatic behavior of tumors is also mounting. Over 90% of...
The evaluation of nanomechanical properties of tissues in health and disease is of increasing interest to scientists. It has been confirmed that these properties, determined in part by the composition of the extracellular matrix, significantly affect...
The spatial and temporal coordination of each element is a pivotal characteristic of systems, and the central nervous system (CNS) is not an exception. Glial elements and the vascular interface have been considered more recently, together with the ex...
The development of the enteric nervous system (ENS) is highly modulated by the synchronized interaction between the enteric neural crest cells (ENCCs) and the neural stem cell niche comprising the gut microenvironment. Genetic defects dysregulating t...
Melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer, and despite significant therapeutic advances over the past decade, a substantial number of patients still progress to a fatal outcome. The initiation and progression of melanoma are strongly influe...
Metastasis is a leading cause of mortality in breast cancer, as metastatic disease is often aggressive and resistant to conventional treatments. Cancer cells that spread to distant organs can enter a dormant phase for extended periods, sometimes year...
One of the key pathological features of Diabetic Kidney Disease (DKD) progression is the accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in kidneys, leading to thickening of the glomerular and tubular basement membranes, subsequently resulting in...
The perspectives of regenerative medicine are still severely hampered by the host response to biomaterial implantation, despite the robustness of technologies that hold the promise to recover the functionality of damaged organs and tissues. In this s...
The extracellular matrix (ECM) has remained an enigmatic component of the tumor microenvironment. It drives metastasis via its interaction with the integrin signaling pathway, contributes to tumor progression and confers therapy resistance by providi...
Previous studies reported the expression of toll-like receptors (TLRs), merely TLR2 and TLR4, and complement fragments (C3a, C5b9) in vitreoretinal disorders. Other than pathogens, TLRs can recognize endogenous products of tissue remodeling as damage...
One of the most important medical interventions for individuals with heart valvular disease is heart valve replacement, which is not without substantial challenges, particularly for pediatric patients. Due to their biological properties and biocompat...
Prolonged exposure to fine dust (FD) increases the risk of skin inflammation. Stimulated epidermal cells release growth factors into their extracellular environment, which can induce inflammation in dermal cells. Algae are considered rich sources of...
The extracellular matrix (ECM) is the complex three-dimensional network of fibrous proteins and proteoglycans that constitutes an essential part of every tissue to provide support for normal tissue homeostasis. Tissue specificity of the ECM in its to...
Fibrotic lung diseases are a heterogeneous set of disorders characterized by progressive infiltration of the pulmonary interstitium by inflammatory cells and fibroblasts, leading to destruction of normal pulmonary tissue and increased extracellular m...
A protease is an enzyme with a proteolytic activity that facilitates the digestion of its substrates. Membrane-type I matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP), a member of the broader matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) family, is involved in the regulation of...
Perineuronal nets (PNNs), a specialized form of extra cellular matrix (ECM), surround numerous neurons in the CNS and allow synaptic connectivity through holes in its structure. We hypothesize that PNNs serve as gatekeepers that guard and protect syn...
Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax in humans, livestock, and wildlife, exists in a community with hundreds of other species of bacteria in the environment. Work on the genetics of these communities has shown that B. anthracis shares a...
Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a 30KDa lectin implicated in multiple pathophysiology pathways including renal damage and fibrosis. Gal-3 binds β-galactoside through its carbohydrate-recognition domain. From intra-cellular to extra-cellular localization,...
Skin aging is a very well-known process setting a gradual worsening of skin mechanical features due to a decline in the production of the extra-cellular matrix machinery and to a concurrent change in the contraction process. To slow this progression,...
The microtubule-disrupting agent 2-methoxyestradiol (2-ME) displays anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic properties, but its clinical development is halted due to poor pharmacokinetics. We therefore designed two 2-ME analogs in silico—an ESE-15-one a...
Oxidative stress (OS) is mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS), which in cardiovascular and other disease states, damage DNA, lipids, proteins, other cellular and extra-cellular components. OS is both initiated by, and triggers inflammation, card...
A prominent feature of the skeleton is its ability to remodel in response to biophysical stimuli and to repair under varied biophysical conditions. This allows the skeleton considerable adaptation to meet its physiological roles of stability and move...
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) affects 4–5% of men over 65, and Aortic Dissection (AD) is a life-threatening aortic pathology associated with high morbidity and mortality. Initiators of AAA and AD include smoking and arterial hypertension, whilst ke...
A continuum model for tumor invasion in a two-dimensional spatial domain based on the interaction of the urokinase plasminogen activation system with a model for cancer cell dynamics is proposed. The arising system of partial differential equations i...
Synthesis of bioinks for bioprinting of respiratory tissue requires considerations related to immunogenicity, mechanical properties, printability, and cellular compatibility. Biomaterials can be tailored to provide the appropriate combination of thes...
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a complex tissue injury resulting in permanent and degenerating damage to the central nervous system (CNS). Detrimental cellular processes occur after SCI, including axonal degeneration, neuronal loss, neuroinflammation, r...
Cellular receptors on the cell membrane can bind ligand molecules in the extra-cellular medium to form ligand-bound monomers. These interactions ultimately determine the fate of a cell through the resulting intra-cellular signalling cascades. Often,...
Multiple myeloma is an incurable cancer formed by malignant plasma cells. For the proliferation and survival of myeloma cells, as well as the occurrence of the complications, numerous intra- and extra-cellular mechanisms are involved. The interaction...
The human skin is the largest organ which protects the body from disease and physical damage. When the skin has been seriously damaged through disease or burns, the body cannot act fast enough to produce necessary replacement cells. Artificial skin g...
The ability of cancer cells to detach from the primary site and metastasize is the main cause of cancer- related death among all cancer types. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is the first event of the metastatic cascade, resulting in the l...
Hepatic fibrosis is characterized by the pathological accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) in the liver resulting from the persistent liver injury and wound-healing reaction induced by various insults. Although hepatic fibrosis is considered re...
Background: Extra virgin olive oil is a typical food of the Mediterranean area, obtained by pressing Olea europaea L. fruits. Its polyphenols have been studied for their antioxidant function and protective action against cancer and chronic kidney dis...
Mechanical and electrical stimuli play a key role in tissue formation, guiding cell processes such as cell migration, differentiation, maturation, and apoptosis. Monitoring and controlling these stimuli on in vitro experiments is not straightforward...
Microfluidics and microfabrication have recently been established as promising tools for developing a new generation of in vitro cell culture microdevices. The reduced amounts of reagents employed within cell culture microdevices make them particular...
Integrins are a family of transmembrane proteins, involved in substrate recognition and cell adhesion in cross-talk with the extra cellular matrix. In this study, we investigated the influence of integrin α2β1 on tendons, another collagen...
The secretome is an important mediator in the permanent process of reciprocity between cells and their environment. Components of secretome are involved in a large number of physiological mechanisms including differentiation, migration, and extracell...
Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) promulgates epithelial cell associated disease-defining characteristics in tumorigenesis and organ fibrosis. Growth factors such as epidermal growth factor and fibroblast growth factor in addition to cytokin...
The spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, has a large number of membrane proteins involved in a complex life cycle, that includes a tick vector and a vertebrate host. Some of these proteins also serve different roles in infection and dissemination of the...
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common type of arthritis that occurs in an aged population. It affects any joints in the body and degenerates the articular cartilage and the subchondral bone. Despite the pathophysiology of OA being different, cartila...
Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are essential proteins acting directly in the breakdown of the extra cellular matrix and so in cancer invasion and metastasis. Given its impact on tumor angiogenesis, monitoring MMP-14 provides strategic insights on c...
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