The profile of MSCs obtained from patients with chronic AD retraces the Th1/Th17 cell environment observed in differentiated cells of chronic AD. This evidence could open a new scenario in the pathogenesis of AD, according to which the inflammatory process may involve MSCs early on.

Although the etiology of leiomyoma is unclear, a progenitor/undifferentiated cell population has been described whose dysregulation may be involved in the onset of uterine conditions. Moreover, inflammation is involved in the development of several tumors. The aim of this work was to understand if progenitor cells sustain a chronic inflammatory microenvironment that enhances leiomyoma development. Cells from 12 human leiomyoma and 12 normal myometrium samples of the same patients were in vitro isolated and exhaustively characterized (morphology, proliferation, cytofluorometry, differentiation, RT-PCR, immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry, and Western blotting assays). Selected cytokines (ELISA) and inflammation-related genes (RT-PCR) were analyzed to identify healthy myometrium progenitor cells (MPCs) and leiomyoma progenitor cells (LPCs). Results show that (i) MPCs and LPCs share stemness features, such as immunophenotype and multidifferentiation assay, (ii) LPCs have a significantly shorter doubling time and a significantly higher expression of stemness genes (p < 0.05), and (iii) LPCs secreted significantly higher levels (p < 0.05) of cytokines related to chronic inflammation and significantly lower amounts (p < 0.05) of cytokines related to acute inflammation. Despite the limited sample size, comparisons between leiomyoma and normal myometrium tissue from each patient allowed normalization of patient-specific differences. The evidenced cytokine expression pattern related to chronic inflammation in LPCs may play a role in the increased risk of adverse obstetric outcomes (infertility, spontaneous miscarriage, and preterm birth) in women affected by leiomyomas. These women should be recognized as “high risk” and subjected to specialized management both before and during pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: Uterine leiomyomas (fibroids) are smooth muscle neoplasms of the myometrial layer of the uterus and are the most common benign tumors in women. Although their etiology is still unclear, progenitor cells seem to be implicated. OBJECTIVE: To identify the dysregulated pathways involved in leiomyoma onset by microRNA profiling of progenitor cells isolated from normal myometrium and leiomyoma tissue. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Pairs of normal myometrium and uterine fibroid specimens were collected from 12 myomectomy patients. Myometrial progenitor cells and leiomyoma progenitor cells were isolated and characterized for stemness. After total RNA extraction and profiling of their 2646 microRNAs, DIANA-miRPath analysis was applied to find any dysregulated pathways. RESULTS: Only 30 microRNAs showed a significant differential regulation between myometrial progenitor cells and leiomyoma progenitor cells. Removal of those that had values close to the cutoff or that were not consistent among triplicates left 15 microRNAs, of which 7 were downregulated and 8 were upregulated in leiomyoma progenitor cells compared to myometrial progenitor cells. According to DIANA-miRPath analysis, the 7 downregulated microRNAs (hsa-miR-146b-5p; hsa-miR-335-3p; hsa-miR-335-5p; hsa-miR-135b-5p; hsa-miR-10a-3p; hsa-miR-10a-5p; hsa-miR-200a-3p) are all related to 3 pathways, "ECM-receptor interaction" (33 targeted genes), "Adherens junction" (33 targeted genes), and "Hippo signaling" (69 targeted genes), whereas the 8 upregulated miRNAs (hsa-miR-146a-5p; hsa-miR-576-3p; hsa-miR-122-5p; hsa-miR-1246; hsa-miR-595; hsa-miR-658; hsa-miR-4284; hsa-miR-924) are related to 4 pathways, "PI3K-Akt signaling pathway" (71 targeted genes), "Pathways in Cancer" (80 targeted genes), "Cell Cycle" (37 targeted genes), and "Regulation of actin cytoskeleton" (41 targeted genes). CONCLUSION: The findings that only 15 of 2646 microRNAs are differentially regulated in normal myometrium and leiomyoma and that they are involved in 7 dysregulated pathways provides interesting insights into the development of uterine fibroids, and lends support to the hypothesis that leiomyoma onset is the result of alterations affecting progenitor cells.

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In the last few years, significant advances have occurred in the preclinical and clinical work toward gene and cell therapy for muscular dystrophy. At the time of this writing, several trials are ongoing and more are expected to start. It is thus a time of expectation, even though many hurdles remain and it is unclear whether they will be overcome with current strategies or if further improvements will be necessary.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic disease characterized by fibroblasts activation, ECM accumulation, and diffused alveolar inflammation. The role of inflammation in IPF is still controversial and its involvement may follow nontraditional mechanisms. It is seen that a pathological microenvironment may affect cells, in particular mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that may be able to sustain the inflamed microenvironment and influence the surrounding cells. Here MSCs have been isolated from fibrotic (IPF-MSCs) and control (C-MSCs) lung tissue; first cells were characterized and compared by the expression of molecules related to ECM, inflammation, and other interdependent pathways such as hypoxia and oxidative stress. Subsequently, MSCs were co-cultured between them and with NHLF to test the effects of the cellular crosstalk. Results showed that pathological microenvironment modified the features of MSCs: IPF-MSCs, compared to C-MSCs, express higher level of molecules related to ECM, inflammation, oxidative stress, and hypoxia; notably, when co-cultured with C-MSCs and NHLF, IPF-MSCs are able to induce a pathological phenotype on the surrounding cell types. In conclusion, in IPF the pathological microenvironment affects MSCs that in turn can modulate the behavior of other cell types favoring the progression of IPF.

As in other benign and malignant tumors, the hypothesis that CSCs play a pivotal role in pituitary adenoma onset has been confirmed as well as the existence of a link between the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process and CSC formation in epithelial tumors.

Results indicate as EMT may be related to the presence of PMCs on pituitary tumors; SSAs, currently used in the management of human GHomas, exert anti-proliferative effect also in PMCs that, because of their derivation from CSCs, may be a new meaningful target for drugs treatment.