The pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is influenced by both genetic factors and epigenetic modifications; the latter is a result of exposure to various environmental factors. Epigenetic modifications affect gene expression and alter cellular functions without modifying the genomic sequences. CpG-DNA methylation, histone modifications, and miRNAs are the main epigenetic ...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells conditioned medium on fibroblast to myofibroblast differentiation. Mesenchymal stem cells have a long-term clinical application and widely have used in autoimmune disease and regenerative medicine. However, some MSCs derived cytokines such as TGF-β could have a dual role in suppression or progression of disease. Fibroblast activation and extracellular matrix production are two key features of wound healing which mostly are controlled with multifunctional cytokine TGF-β1. Bone marrow MSCs were isolated, cultured and used for conditioned medium preparation. The flow cytometry analysis was done for MSCs cell surface markers. MRC-5 subconfluent cells were starved with the medium containing 0.5 % FBS for 24h, then treated with exogenous TGF-β1 (10ng/ml as positive control) and MSCs-conditioned medium for 48h. Finally, the mRNA expression of three target genes: collagen I, collagen III and α-SMA were evaluated by RT-PCR technique. Our findings demonstrated that bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells-conditioned medium (secretome) significantly upregulated type I and III collagen expression but non-significantly α-SMA gene expression. Totally, Real Time PCR results suggest that MSCs conditioned medium activates differentiation of fibroblast to myofibroblast phenotype as confirmed through the presence of α-SMA, collagen I and collagen III expression compared to control in MRC 5 cells.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is an autoimmune rheumatic disease, which affects primarily the joints in children under 16 years old. The etiology of JIA is yet unknown but research has shown that JIA is a multifactorial disease implicating several genes and environmental factors. Environmental factors affect immune cells via epigenetic mechanisms. One of the most important epigenetic mechanisms is DNA methylation catalyzed by DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) and usually associated with gene silencing. In this study, we analyzed the expression of three DNA methyltransferases namely DNMT1, DNMT3a and DNMT3b in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with JIA and compared it with the expression of these genes in healthy young individuals. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 28 JIA patients and 28 healthy controls were isolated. Total RNA was extracted, cDNA was synthesized and the transcript levels of DNMTs were analyzed by quantitative PCR. Analysis of DNMT1, DNMT3a and DNMT3b relative gene expression in PBMCs of JIA patients and control individuals shows that the expression of DNMT1 and DNMT3a is reduced significantly by 7 folds and 5.5 folds, respectively, in JIA patients compared to healthy controls. Furthermore, the expression of all three DNMTs were significantly and drastically reduced in young affected males compared to healthy males. This study shows that the expression of DNMTs is reduced in JIA patients and this reduction is severe in male JIA patients.

Introduction: Dental pulp cells, a unique source of ectomesenchymal pluripotent stem cells, are originated from the skull neural crest. They are considered as one ideal source of cells for the regenerative medicine applications. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), a transparent fluid found in the brain and spinal cord, is enriched with electrolytes, proteins, and growth factors such as EGF, bFGF, BDNF, GDNF, and neuropeptides and can be utilized as a trigger in order to induce the neural differentiation. On the other hand, photobiomodulation (PBM), with the ability to prevent cell apoptosis, can induce cell proliferation by means of increasing the ATP synthesis in mitochondria and facilitating the secretion of the growth factors. In this research, we first aimed to isolate and culture the dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) and subsequently to investigate their potential for neural differentiation. Methods: Human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) were isolated from the pulp tissues using an outgrowth method and subsequently cultured. In order to access the cells’ differentiation potential, cells were firstly classified into four groups which were treated with CSF, gallium aluminum arsenide diode laser irradiation (808 nm; 30 mW power output) and a combination of both, while the fourth group was considered as the control. MTT assay was then used to examine the viability of cells following the treatments. After 4, 7, and 14 days the cell morphology in the treated groups was evaluated while RT-PCR was used in order to evaluate the Nestin and β-tubulinIII neural gene marker expressions. Results: It was shown that PBM has the ability to elevate the proliferation of DPSCs. Also, the differentiated morphology was obvious in the CSF treated group, especially on day 14 with the formation of three-dimensional (3D) structures. The results of gene expression analysis showed that on the fourth day of post-treatment, Nestin and β-tubulinIII gene expressions were reduced in all groups while a rising trend in their expression was observed subsequently on days 7 and 14. Conclusion: In accordance with previous studies, including functional and protein base researches, it has been demonstrated that CSF has a direct role in neural induction. Although past works have been significant, none of them shows a 3D structure. In this article, we investigated the dual effect of PBM and CSF. Initial results confirmed the upregulation of neural-related transcription factors. The 3D organization of the formed tissue could imply the initiation of organogenesis which has not been reported before. In sum, the dual effect of CSF and PBM has been shown to have the potential for contributing to the initiation of neurogenesis and organogenesis