Numerous studies over the past two decades have focused on the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and its role in the development of metastasis. Certain studies highlighted the importance of EMT in the dissemination of tumor cells and metastasis of epithelium-derived carcinomas. Tumor metastasis is a multistep process during which tumor cells change their morphology, and start to migrate and invade distant sites. The present review discusses the current understanding of the molecular mechanisms contributing to EMT in embryogenesis, fibrosis and tumorigenesis. Additionally, the signaling pathways that initiate EMT through transcriptional factors responsible for the activation and suppression of various genes associated with cancer cell migration were investigated. Furthermore, the important role of the epigenetic modifications that regulate EMT and the reverse process, mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) are discussed. MicroRNAs are key regulators of various intracellular processes and current knowledge of EMT has significantly improved due to microRNA characterization. Their effect on signaling pathways and the ensuing events that occur during EMT at the molecular level is becoming increasingly recognized. The current review also highlights the role of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and CTC clusters, and their ability to form metastases. In addition, the biological properties of different types of circulating cells based on their tumor-forming potential are compared.

Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) have excellent proliferative properties, mineralization potential and can be easily obtained from third molar teeth. Recently, many studies have focused on isolation and differentiation of DPSCs. In our study, we focused on biological properties of non-differentiated DPSCs in comparison with osteogenic differentiated cells from DPSCs. We analyzed morphology as well as mineralization potential using three varied osteogenic differentiation media. After fifteen days of differentiation, calcium deposit production was observed in all three osteogenic differentiation media. However, only one osteogenic medium, without animal serum supplement, showed rapid and strong calcification—OsteoMAX-XF™ Differentiation Medium. Therefore, we examined specific surface markers, and gene and protein expression of cells differentiated in this osteogenic medium, and compared them to non-differentiated DPSCs. We proved a decrease in expression of CD9 and CD90 mesenchymal stem cell surface markers, as well as downregulation in the expression of pluripotency genes (NANOG and OCT-4) and increased levels of expression in osteogenic genes (ALP, BSP, OCN and RUNX2). Moreover, osteogenic proteins, such as BSP and OCN, were only produced in differentiated cells. Our findings confirm that carefully selected differentiation conditions for stem cells are essential for their translation into future clinical applications.

One of the greatest breakthroughs of regenerative medicine in this century was the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology in 2006 by Shinya Yamanaka. iPSCs originate from terminally differentiated somatic cells that have newly acquired the developmental capacity of self-renewal and differentiation into any cells of three germ layers. Before iPSCs can be used routinely in clinical practice, their efficacy and safety need to be rigorously tested; however, iPSCs have already become effective and fully-fledged tools for application under in vitro conditions. They are currently routinely used for disease modeling, preparation of difficult-to-access cell lines, monitoring of cellular mechanisms in micro- or macroscopic scales, drug testing and screening, genetic engineering, and many other applications. This review is a brief summary of the reprogramming process and subsequent differentiation and culture of reprogrammed cells into neural precursor cells (NPCs) in two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) conditions. NPCs can be used as biomedical models for neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), which are currently considered to be one of the major health problems in the human population.

The progress in technology and science leads to the invention and use of many electrical devices in the daily lives of humans. In addition to that, people have been easily exposed to increased newly generated artificial electromagnetic waves. Exponential use of modern electronic devices has automatically led to increase in electromagnetic wave exposure. Therefore, we constructed the prototype of wireless power charging system to study the biocompatibility of electromagnetic field (EMF) generated by this system on various human cell lines. There are many studies indicating the negative bio-effect of EMF on various types of cells, such as induction of apoptosis. From the other point of view, these effects could rather be beneficial in the way, that they could eliminate the progress of various diseases or disorders. For that reason, we compared the impact of EMF (87 kHz, 0.3–1.2 mT, 30 min) on human normal as well as cancer cell lines based on morphological and cellular level. Our results suggested that EMF generated by wireless power charging systems does not have any detrimental effect on cell morphology, viability and cytoskeletal structures of human neural cells.

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