Recent reports have suggested the involvement of gut microbiota in the progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). We utilized pyrosequencing based analysis of 16S rRNA genes to determine the overall structure of microbiota in patients with colorectal cancer and healthy controls; we investigated microbiota of the intestinal lumen, the cancerous tissue and matched noncancerous normal tissue. Moreover, we investigated the mucosa-adherent microbial composition using rectal swab samples because the structure of the tissue-adherent bacterial community is potentially altered following bowel cleansing. Our findings indicated that the microbial structure of the intestinal lumen and cancerous tissue differed significantly. Phylotypes that enhance energy harvest from diets or perform metabolic exchange with the host were more abundant in the lumen. There were more abundant Firmicutes and less abundant Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria in lumen. The overall microbial structures of cancerous tissue and noncancerous tissue were similar; howerer the tumor microbiota exhibited lower diversity. The structures of the intestinal lumen microbiota and mucosa-adherent microbiota were different in CRC patients compared to matched microbiota in healthy individuals. Lactobacillales was enriched in cancerous tissue, whereas Faecalibacterium was reduced. In the mucosa-adherent microbiota, Bifidobacterium, Faecalibacterium, and Blautia were reduced in CRC patients, whereas Fusobacterium, Porphyromonas, Peptostreptococcus, and Mogibacterium were enriched. In the lumen, predominant phylotypes related to metabolic disorders or metabolic exchange with the host, Erysipelotrichaceae, Prevotellaceae, and Coriobacteriaceae were increased in cancer patients. Coupled with previous reports, these results suggest that the intestinal microbiota is associated with CRC risk and that intestinal lumen microflora potentially influence CRC risk via cometabolism or metabolic exchange with the host. However, mucosa-associated microbiota potentially affects CRC risk primarily through direct interaction with the host.

Menstrual blood-derived stem cells (MenSCs) are a novel source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). MenSCs are attracting more and more attention since their discovery in 2007. MenSCs also have no moral dilemma and show some unique features of known adult-derived stem cells, which provide an alternative source for the research and application in regenerative medicine. Currently, people are increasingly interested in their clinical potential due to their high proliferation, remarkable versatility, and periodic acquisition in a non-invasive manner with no other sources of MSCs that are comparable in adult tissue. In this review, the plasticity of pluripotent biological characteristics, immunophenotype and function, differentiative potential, and immunomodulatory properties are assessed. Furthermore, we also summarize their therapeutic effects and functional characteristics in various diseases, including liver disease, diabetes, stroke, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, ovarian-related disease, myocardial infarction, Asherman syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, acute lung injury, cutaneous wound, endometriosis, and neurodegenerative diseases. Subsequently, the clinical potential of MenSCs is investigated. There is a need for a deeper understanding of its immunomodulatory and diagnostic properties with safety concern on a variety of environmental conditions (such as epidemiological backgrounds, age, hormonal status, and pre-contraceptive). In summary, MenSC has a great potential for reducing mortality and improving the quality of life of severe patients. As a kind of adult stem cells, MenSCs have multiple properties in treating a variety of diseases in regenerative medicine for future clinical applications.

Increasing evidence suggests that perturbations in the intestinal microbiota composition of infants are implicated in the pathogenesis of food allergy (FA), while the actual structure and composition of the intestinal microbiota in human beings with FA remain unclear. Microbial diversity and composition were analyzed with parallel barcoded 454 pyrosequencing targeting the 16S rRNA gene hypervariable V1-V3 regions in the feces of 34 infants with FA (17 IgE mediated and 17 non-IgE mediated) and 45 healthy controls. Here, we showed that several key FA-associated bacterial phylotypes, but not the overall microbiota diversity, significantly changed in infancy fecal microbiota with FA and were associated with the development of FA. The proportion of abundant Bacteroidetes , Proteobacteria , and Actinobacteria phyla were significantly reduced, while the Firmicutes phylum was highly enriched in the FA group ( P < 0.05). Abundant Clostridiaceae 1 organisms were prevalent in infants with FA at the family level ( P = 0.016). FA-enriched phylotypes negatively correlated with interleukin-10, for example, the genera Enterococcus and Staphylococcus . Despite profound interindividual variability, levels of 20 predominant genera were significantly different between the FA and healthy control groups ( P < 0.05). Infants with IgE-mediated FA had increased levels of Clostridium sensu stricto and Anaerobacter and decreased levels of Bacteroides and Clostridium XVIII ( P < 0.05). A positive correlation was observed between Clostridium sensu stricto and serum-specific IgE ( R = 0.655, P < 0.001). The specific microbiota signature could distinguish infants with IgE-mediated FA from non-IgE-mediated ones. Detailed microbiota analysis of a well-characterized cohort of infants with FA showed that dysbiosis of fecal microbiota with several FA-associated key phylotypes may play a pathogenic role in FA.

Background: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is an ecological disorder of the vaginal microbiota that affects millions of women annually, and is associated with numerous adverse health outcomes including pre-term birth and the acquisition of sexually transmitted infections. However, little is known about the overall structure and composition of vaginal microbial communities; most of the earlier studies focused on predominant vaginal bacteria in the process of BV. In the present study, the diversity and richness of vaginal microbiota in 50 BV positive and 50 healthy women from China were investigated using culture-independent PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and barcoded 454 pyrosequencing methods, and validated by quantitative PCR. Results: Our data demonstrated that there was a profound shift in the absolute and relative abundances of bacterial species present in the vagina when comparing populations associated with healthy and diseased conditions. In spite of significant interpersonal variations, the diversity of vaginal microbiota in the two groups could be clearly divided into two clusters. A total of 246,359 high quality pyrosequencing reads was obtained for evaluating bacterial diversity and 24,298 unique sequences represented all phylotypes. The most predominant phyla of bacteria identified in the vagina belonged to Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria and Fusobacteria. The higher number of phylotypes in BV positive women over healthy is consistent with the results of previous studies and a large number of low-abundance taxa which were missed in previous studies were revealed. Although no single bacterium could be identified as a specific marker for healthy over diseased conditions, three phyla - Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria and Fusobacteria, and eight genera including Gardnerella, Atopobium, Megasphaera, Eggerthella, Aerococcus, Leptotrichia/Sneathia, Prevotella and Papillibacter were strongly associated with BV (p < 0.05). These genera are potentially excellent markers and could be used as targets for clinical BV diagnosis by molecular approaches. Conclusions: The data presented here have clearly profiled the overall structure of vaginal communities and clearly demonstrated that BV is associated with a dramatic increase in the taxonomic richness and diversity of vaginal microbiota. The study also provides the most comprehensive picture of the vaginal community structure and the bacterial ecosystem, and significantly contributes to the current understanding of the etiology of BV.

Human menstrual blood-derived stem cells (MenSCs) are a novel source of MSCs that provide the advantage of being easy to collect and isolate. Exosomes contain some mRNAs and adhesion molecules that can potentially impact cellular and animal physiology. This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic potential of MenSC-derived exosomes (MenSC-Ex) on AML12 cells (in vitro) and D-GalN/LPS-induced FHF mice (in vivo). Transmission electron microscopy and Western blot were used to identify MenSC-Ex. Antibody array was used to examine cytokine levels on MenSC-Ex. MenSC-Ex were treated in D-GalN/LPS-induced AML12 in vitro. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were measured. MenSC-Ex were injected into the tail veins of mice 24 h before treatment with D-GalN/LPS. Blood and liver tissues served as physiological and biochemical indexes. The number of liver mononuclear cells (MNCs) and the amount of the active apoptotic protein caspase-3 were determined to elaborate the mechanism of hepatoprotective activity. Human menstrual blood-derived stem cell-derived exosomes (MenSC-Ex) are bi-lipid membrane vesicles that have a round, ball-like shape with a diameter of approximately 30–100 nm. Cytokine arrays have shown that MenSC-Ex expressed cytokines, including ICAM-1, angiopoietin-2, Axl, angiogenin, IGFBP-6, osteoprotegerin, IL-6, and IL-8. MenSC-Ex markedly improved liver function, enhanced survival rates, and inhibited liver cell apoptosis at 6 h after transplantation. MenSC-Ex migrated to sites of injury and to AML12 cells (a mouse hepatocyte cell line), respectively. Moreover, MenSC-Ex reduced the number of liver mononuclear cells (MNCs) and the amount of the active apoptotic protein caspase-3 in injured livers. In conclusion, our results provide preliminary evidence for the anti-apoptotic capacity of MenSC-Ex in FHF and suggest that MenSC-Ex may be an alternative therapeutic approach to treat FHF.