Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are spindle-shaped, plastic-adherent cells in vitro with potent immunosuppressive activity both in vitro and in vivo. MSCs have been employed as a cellular immunotherapy in diverse preclinical models and clinical trials, but most commonly as agents for the prophylaxis or therapy of graft versus host disease after hematopoietic cell transplantation. In addition to the oft studied secreted cytokines, several metabolic pathways intrinsic to MSCs, notably indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, prostaglandin E2, hypoxia-inducible factor 1 α, heme oxygenase-1, as well as energy-generating metabolism, have been shown to play roles in the immunomodulatory activity of MSCs. In this review, we discuss these key metabolic pathways in MSCs which have been reported to contribute to MSC therapeutic effects in the setting of hematopoietic cell transplantation and graft versus host disease. Understanding the contribution of MSC metabolism to immunomodulatory activity may substantially inform the development of future clinical applications of MSCs.

Nosema ceranae infections in honey bees (Apis mellifera) pose a severe threat to colony health. Beekeepers have used dicyclohexylammonium fumagillin to control Nosema apis, although it may be ineffective against N. ceranae. We investigated the ability of various propolis extracts collected from Upstate New York (United States) to decrease in vivo N. ceranae infection levels when fed ad libitum to N. ceranae-infected honey bees. Propolis extracts, most notably a dichloromethane extract, significantly lowered spore levels in a dose-dependent fashion 4 days post inoculation. When testing the in vitro anti-Nosema activity of propolis extracts, we report for the first time that spore viability was unaffected after a 24 h exposure to propolis extracts. These results present evidence that propolis extracts may effectively lower Microsporidia infections in honey bees, and that direct exposure of environmental spores to propolis alone does not kill N. ceranae.

Olfactory neuroblastoma (ONB) is a rare neuroepithelial-derived malignancy that usually presents in the nasal cavity. The rarity of ONB has led to conflicting reports regarding associations of patient age and ONB survival and outcome. Moreover, long-term outcomes of chemotherapy and other treatment modalities are speculated. Here, we aimed to compare survival outcomes across age groups through time and determine associations between treatment modality and survival. In this retrospective population-based study, we analyzed the SEER 2000–2016 Database for patients with ONB tumors. Using Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, a significant effect of age and cancer-specific survival (CSS) was observed; geriatric ONB patients had the lowest CSS overall. Generalized linear models and survival analyses demonstrated that CSS of the pediatric patient population was similar to the geriatric group through 100 months but plateaued thereafter and was the highest of all age groups. Radiation and surgery were associated with increased CSS, while chemotherapy was associated with decreased CSS. GLM results showed that tumor grade, stage and lymph node involvement had no CSS associations with age or treatment modality. Our results provide insight for future investigations of long-term outcomes associated with ONB patient age and treatment modality, and we conclude that survival statistics of ONB patients should be analyzed in terms of trends through time rather than fixed in time.