Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common cancer among men and the fifth leading cause of cancer death. Circulating tumor cell (CTC) enumeration and characterisation in PCa has been shown to provide valuable information on prognosis of disease, therapy management and detection of resistance. Here, Cellsway's microfluidic platform for high-throughput enrichment of intact CTC populations was used to isolate CTCs from the blood of 20 localised PCa patients and 10 healthy donor samples to evaluate the clinical performance of the technology. To enumerate and characterise CTCs, a multi-parameter flow cytometry analysis was performed on the enriched CTC suspension using CTC-specific biomarkers. CTCs were detected in 17 of 20 patient samples, which corresponds to 85% CTC positivity. The median CTC count per 7.5 ml blood was 2 (1-9). In 80% of patients (n = 16), the number of CTCs ranged from 1 to 5, and in 5% of patients (n = 1) the number of CTCs was above 5. No CTCs were observed in the blood samples of 10 healthy volunteers, demonstrating the high specificity and low risk of false positives of the technology.
Copyright: © 2024 Kilercik et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Although gut and lymph node (LN) memory CD4 T cells represent major HIV and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) tissue reservoirs, the study of the role of dendritic cells (DCs) in HIV persistence has long been limited to the blood due to difficulties to access lymphoid tissue samples. In this study, we show that LN migratory and resident DC subpopulations harbor distinct phenotypic and transcriptomic profiles. Interestingly, both LN DC subpopulations contain HIV intact provirus and inducible replication-competent HIV despite the expression of the antiviral restriction factor SAMHD1. Notably, LN DC subpopulations isolated from HIV-infected individuals treated for up to 14 years are transcriptionally silent but harbor replication-competent virus that can be induced upon TLR7/8 stimulation. Taken together, these results uncover a potential important contribution of LN DCs to HIV infection in the presence of ART.
Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Peripheral nerve injury is common and negatively affects an individual's quality of life. Drugs used for peripheral nerve regeneration should aim to eliminate symptoms such as neuropathic pain and have therapeutic effects. In recent studies, pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) has been considered an essential therapeutic agent because of its potential neuroprotective properties. In this study, we aimed to investigate the efficacy of locally applied PEDF for peripheral nerve regeneration. Twenty-four Wistar albino male rats were used. The study groups included Injury (n = 12) and Injury+PEDF (n = 12). An injury model was created by applying 50 N pressure to the right sciatic nerves in groups, and 10 μg/kg local PEDF was injected into the Injury+PEDF group. After 28 days of recovery, functional tests and stereological, immunohistochemical, and biochemical analyses were performed. A significant difference was found between the Injury and Injury+PEDF groups in amplitude, whereas no difference was found in latency. The number of myelinated axons and the myelinated axon area increased significantly in the Injury+PEDF group, while no statistically significant difference was found in myelin sheath thickness. Superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase activities were increased by PEDF, whereas they were suppressed in mesenchymal stem cells. PEDF exerts functional, quantitative, and antioxidative effects on sciatic nerve injury during neuroregeneration. In addition, when oxidative stress parameters were examined, it was seen that PEDF reduced oxidative stress following sciatic nerve injury.
© 2023 American Association for Anatomy.

Fibroblasts isolated and expanded from ReLEx SMILE lenticules can be a source of human keratocytes. Since corneal keratocytes are quiescent cells, it is difficult to expand them in vitro in suitable numbers for clinical and experimental use. In the present study, this problem was solved by isolating and growing corneal fibroblasts (CFs) with a high proliferative potential and their reversion to keratocytes in a selective serum-free medium. Fibroblasts reversed into keratocytes (rCFs) had a dendritic morphology and ultrastructural signs of activation of protein synthesis and metabolism. The cultivation of CFs in a medium with 10% FCS and their reversion into keratocytes was not accompanied by the induction of myofibroblasts. After reversion, the cells spontaneously formed spheroids and expressed keratocan and lumican markers, but not mesenchymal ones. The rCFs had low proliferative and migratory activity, and their conditioned medium contained a low level of VEGF. CF reversion was not accompanied by a change with the levels of IGF-1, TNF-alpha, SDF-1a, and sICAM-1. In the present study, it has been demonstrated that fibroblasts from ReLEx SMILE lenticules reverse into keratocytes in serum-free KGM, maintaining the morphology and functional properties of primary keratocytes. These keratocytes have a potential for tissue engineering and cell therapy of various corneal pathologies.

Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL) is a rare disease, occurring mostly in infants and young children. The chromosomal translocation t(1;22)(p13;q13), resulting in the RBM15-MKL1 fusion gene, is a recurrent and diagnostic translocation in infants with AMKL. The present case report describes a case of a newborn girl, without Down's syndrome, with congenital AMKL. At birth, the infant had hepatosplenomegaly and the peripheral blood count revealed anemia, thrombopenia and leukocytosis, with 28% blasts. Immunophenotyping demonstrated blasts positive for CD34, CD61 and CD42b. Karyotyping of these blasts (R-banding) showed a hitherto unreported chromosomal translocation, t(1;7;22)(p13;q21;q13), a 3-way variant of the t(1;22)(p13;q13) variant. Fluorescent in situ hybridization analysis confirmed the presence of the RBM15-MKL1 fusion gene.
Copyright: © Messiaen et al.