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The generally accepted viewpoint for more than 50 years has been that the number of oocytes is fixed in fetal or neonatal ovaries, and therefore, oocytes cannot renew themselves in postnatal or adult life. Over the past decade, however, the traditional viewpoint has been challenged by a number of investigators who have presented evidence that postnatal follicular renewal occurs in mammals, and that mitotically active oogonial stem cells (OSCs) exist in postnatal mouse ovaries. 29Menopause

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) results from aberrant hematopoietic processes and these changes are frequently initiated by chromosomal translocations. One particular subtype, AML with translocation t(7;12)(q36;p13), is found in children diagnosed before 2 years of age. The mechanisms for leukemogenesis induced by t(7;12) is not understood, in part because of the lack of efficient methods to reconstruct the leukemia-associated genetic aberration with correct genomic architecture and regulatory elements. We therefore created induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines that carry the translocation t(7;12) using CRISPR/Cas9. These t(7;12) iPSC showed propensity to differentiate into all three germ layers, confirming retained stem cell properties. The potential for differentiation into hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) was shown by expression of CD34, CD43 and CD45. Compared with the parental iPSC line, a significant decrease in cells expressing CD235a and CD41a was seen in the t(7;12) iPSC-derived HSPC (iHSPC), suggesting a block in differentiation.Moreover, colony formation assay showed an accumulation of cells at the erythroid and myeloid progenitor stages. Gene expression analysis revealed significant downregulation of genes associated with megakaryocyte differentiation and up-regulation of genes associated with myeloid pathways but also genes typically seen in AML cases with t(7;12). Thus, this iPSC t(7;12) leukemia model of the t(7;12) AML subtype constitutes a valuable tool for further studies of the mechanisms for leukemia development and to find new treatment options.

Novel biomarkers for multiple sclerosis (MS) could improve diagnosis and provide clues to pathogenesis. In this study surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry was used to analyze protein expression in CSF from 46 MS patients, 46 healthy siblings to the patients, and 50 unrelated healthy controls. Twenty-four proteins in the mass range 2-10 kDa were expressed at significantly different levels (p < 0.01) in a robust manner when comparing the three groups. Identities of three proteins were determined using biochemical purification followed by tandem mass spectrometric analysis. Immunoprecipitation experiments confirmed the identities for two peptides derived from chromogranin B (m/z 6252) and from secretogranin II (m/z 3679). These peptides were all decreased in MS when compared with siblings or controls. Radioimmunoassays specific for each peptide confirmed these differences. The lowered concentrations did not correlate to the axonal damage marker neurofilament light protein and may thus reflect functional changes rather than neurodegeneration. Further studies will investigate the involvement of these peptides in MS pathogenesis.

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Abstract. Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a heterogeneous disease with substantial interpersonal variance in aggressiveness. Novel biomarkers for rapidly progressive FTD could improve diagnosis and provide clues regarding its pathogenesis. In this study, surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (SELDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) was used to analyze peptide profiles in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 24 FTD patients. Thirteen patients had rapidly progressive FTD with distinct pathology in a brain MRI after less than 3 years of disease duration. Eleven patients had slowly progressive FTD with a normal brain MRI, but had abnormal findings in SPECT/PET after more than 5 years of disease duration. The axonal damage marker CSF neurofilament light-chain (NF-L) was measured in all subjects to evaluate the amount of axonal degeneration. A CSF NF-L level of 150 ng/l was used as a cutoff point for high NF-L expression. SELDI-TOF analysis of peptides in the range of 2000-20000 m/z revealed one peak with m/z of 6378 that was expressed at a significantly different level (p<0.01) when rapidly versus slowly progressive cases of FTD were compared. Eleven peaks were expressed at different levels when high versus low CSF NF-L were compared. Using chromatographic purification followed by tandem mass spectrometric analysis, five of these peaks were identified as follows: C-terminal fragment of neuroendocrine protein 7B2 (3512.84 Da), C-terminal fragment of osteopontin (7658.19 Da) as well as its mono-and diphosphorylated forms (7738.16 Da and 7818.13 Da, respectively) and pancreatic ribonuclease (14566.33 Da). The peak intensity of pancreatic ribonuclease was higher in patients with low NF-L expression, while the other peptides had a lower peak intensity in this group. Altered levels of these peptides have also been described in other neurodegenerative diseases. Taken together, these data suggest that differentially-expressed peptides are general markers of axonal degeneration. Further studies are needed to verify their prognostic value in FTD.

We show that simultaneous detection of the CD34, SP, and ALDH+ cells is clearly feasible using only small amounts of CB. In CB, ALDH+, and CD34+ cells are overlapping populations distinctly separated from the SP population. The difference in relation to the capacity for colony growth between ALDH+ and SP underlines that they define different cell populations.