The use of stem and progenitor cells to restore damaged organs and tissues, in particular, the central nervous system, is currently considered a most promising therapy in regenerative medicine. At the same time, another approach aimed at stimulating regeneration with the use of stem cells encapsulated into a biopolymer matrix and capable of creating a specific microenvironment for the implanted cells similar to the natural extracellular matrix is under active development. Here, we study effects of the application of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSCs) combined with a fibrin matrix on post-traumatic reactions in the spinal cord in rats. The AD-MSC application is found to exert a positive impact on the functional and structural recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI) that has been confirmed by the results of behavioral/electrophysiological and morphometric studies demonstrating reduced area of abnormal cavities and enhanced tissue retention in the site of injury. Immunohistochemical and real-time PCR analyses provide evidence that AD-MSC application decreases the GFAP expression in the area of SCI that might indicate the reduction of astroglial activation. Our results also demonstrate that AD-MSC application contributes to marked upregulation of PDGFβR and HSPA1b mRNA expression and decrease of Iba1 expression at the site of the central canal. Thus, the application of AD-MSCs combined with fibrin matrix at the site of SCI during the subacute period can stimulate important mechanisms of nervous tissue regeneration and should be further developed for clinical applications.

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Serum cytokine levels were explored in a combined group of patients with autoimmune liver diseases (AILDs) and separately in patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and overlap syndrome. Overall, 60 patients with AILD, among them 32 patients with AIH and 28 patients with overlap syndrome, were included in the cross-sectional study. Serum cytokine levels were measured at baseline and compared to those of 21 healthy controls. Patients with AILD had significantly higher levels of IL-6 (0.70 (range 0.17–99.86) in patients with AILD compared to 0.40 (range 0.14–2.65) in controls, p < 0.01), IL-8 (1.66 (0.45–34.58) versus 0.53 (0.35–2.38), resp., p < 0.01), and TNF-α (2.61 (0.23–120.88) versus 1.65 (0.21–7.54), resp., p < 0.01). Adjusted logistic regression analysis revealed a pronounced relation of IL-8 and AILD, 48.36 (3.63–643.60), as well as AIH, 18.54 (1.08–318.54), and overlap syndrome, 23.85 (2.37–240.23), while the associations between the level of other cytokines and AILD were assessed as nonsignificant. In the language of absolute numbers, the increase of IL-8 serum level by 1 pg/mL had increased the chance for a patient to find himself in a group of AILD by 48.36 times. Also, high IL-8 serum levels were strongly related to clinical parameters.

The oral cavity is one of the most complex microbial environments; however, the complex nature of the salivary microbiota and the level of inorganic anions in the saliva of subjects with and without gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) are poorly understood. The primary goals of this pilot research were to assess differences in salivary bacterial community composition and inorganic anion concentrations between patients with GERD and GERD-free people. Thus, the salivary microbiota within both groups was dominated by these genera: Streptococcus, Prevotella, Porphyromonas, Veillonella, Neisseria, Haemophilus, Fusobacterium, Rothia, and Leptotrichia. However, the relative abundances of the genera Actinomyces, Atopobium, Stomatobaculum, Ruminococcaceae_[G-2], Veillonella, and Leptotrichia were significantly higher in the saliva samples of patients with GERD, while the genera Porphyromonas, Gemella, Peptostreptococcus, and Neisseria were less abundant in this group. The concentrations of chloride, phosphate, and sulphate ions in the human saliva varied among all subjects and sampling time. These results broaden our knowledge of the salivary microbial community composition and chemistry of saliva of patients with GERD and GERD-free individuals.

Several methods for the stimulation of skin wound repair have been proposed over the last few decades. The most promising among them are gene and stem cell therapy. Our present experiments combined several approaches via the application of human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells (hUCB-MC) that were transfected with pBud-VEGF165-FGF2 plasmid (gene-cell therapy) and direct gene therapy using pBud-VEGF165-FGF2 plasmid to enhance healing of full thickness skin wounds in rats. The dual expression cassette plasmid pBud-VEGF165-FGF2 encodes both VEGF and FGF2 therapeutic genes, expressing pro-angiogenic growth factors. Our results showed that, with two weeks post-transplantation, some transplanted cells still retained expression of the stem cell and hematopoietic markers C-kit and CD34. Other transplanted cells were found among keratinocytes, hair follicle cells, endothelial cells, and in the derma. PCNA expression studies revealed that transplantation of transfected cells terminated proliferative processes in regenerating wounds earlier than transplantation of untransfected cells. In the direct gene therapy group, four days post-operatively, the processes of flap revascularization, while using Easy LDI Microcirculation Camera, was higher than in control wounded skin. We concluded that hUCB-MC can be used for the treatment of skin wounds and transfection these cells with VEGF and FGF2 genes enhances their regenerative abilities. We also concluded that the application of pBud-VEGF165-FGF2 plasmids is efficient for the direct gene therapy of skin wounds by stimulation of wound revascularization.