Our general purpose was to provide a theoretical and practical foundation for the use of exosomes (EXOs) that have high levels of CD47 as stable and efficient drug carriers. Thus, we prepared EXOs from adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (ADMSCs) that had high levels of CD47 (EXOsCD47) and control EXOs (without CD47), and then compared their immune escape in vivo and their resistance to phagocytosis in vitro. Nanoflow cytometry was used to determine the CD47 level in these EXOs, and the amount of EXOsCD47 that remained in rat plasma at 3 h after intraperitoneal injection. Phagocytosis of the EXOs was also determined using in vitro rat macrophage bone marrow (RMA-BM) experiments. Our in vitro results showed that macrophages ingested significantly more control EXOs than EXOsCD47 (p < 0.01), with confirmation by ultra-high-definition laser confocal microscopy. Consistently, our in vivo results showed that rats had 1.377-fold better retention of EXOsCD47 than control EXOs (p < 0.01). These results confirmed that these engineered EXOsCD47 had improved immune escape. Our results therefore verified that EXOsCD47 had increased immune evasion relative to control EXOs, and have potential for use as drug carriers.

BackgroundAdipose stem cell‐derived exosomes (ADSC‐EXO) and botulinum toxin type A (BTX‐A) individually showed a therapeutic effect on skin wound repair.AimsThis study investigated their synergistic effect on promoting skin wound healing in vitro and in vivo and the underlying molecular events.MethodsADSCs were isolated from Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats to obtain ADSC‐EXO by ultrafiltration and ultracentrifugation and were confirmed using nanoparticle tracking analysis and transmission electron microscopy. Human skin fibroblasts (HSF) were cultured and treated with or without ADSC‐EXO, BTX‐A, or their combination. Changes in cell phenotypes and protein expression were analyzed using different in vitro assays, and a rat skin wound model was used to assess their in vivo effects.ResultsThe isolated ADSC‐EXO from primarily cultured ADSCs had a circular vesicle shape with a 30–180 nm diameter. Treatment of HSF with ADSC‐EXO and/or BTX‐A significantly accelerated HSF migration in vitro and skin wound healing in a rat model. Moreover, ADSC‐EXO plus BTX‐A treatment dramatically induced VEGFA expression but reduced COL III and COL I levels in vivo. ADSC‐EXO and/or BTX‐A treatment significantly upregulated TGF‐β3 expression on Day 16 after surgery but downregulated TGF‐β1 expression, suggesting that ADSC‐EXO plus BTX‐A promoted skin wound healing and reduced inflammatory cell infiltration.ConclusionsThe ADSC‐EXO plus BTX‐A treatment demonstrated a synergistic effect on skin wound healing through upregulation of VEGF expression and the TGF‐β3/TGF‐β1 and COL III/COL I ratio.

Background: Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in the world, which brings great challenges to people's life and health. The purpose of this study was to investigate immune related-lncRNAs and identify new biomarkers for the prognosis of gastric cancer (GC).Methods: We downloaded data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and used R software to determine the ESTIMATEScore, ImmuneScore, and StromalScore of each tumor sample. We performed prognostic analysis and identified the differentially expressed lnRNAs, which were then used to construct a prognostic model. Among the 44 hub genes in the competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network, 3 differentially expressed genes were verified by qPCR.Results: Based on the degree of immune infiltration, cluster A had a higher ESTIMATEScore, ImmuneScore, and StromalScore and higher expression levels of PDL1 (CD274) and CTLA4 than cluster B. Univariate Cox analysis was conducted for these differential lncRNAs, and 57 lncRNAs were found to have prognostic value (P<0.05). gene cluster A had a worse prognosis than gene cluster B (P=0.021). Then, a prognostic model was constructed. The low-risk group had a significantly higher survival rate. Finally, the qPCR results showed that the expression levels of BMPER, PRUNE2, and RBPMS2 were low in GC cell lines. Conclusions:We identified a risk score of 19 lncRNAs as a prognostic marker of GC. There was a relationship between these 19 prognostic-related lncRNAs and the subtypes of infiltrating immune cells. An approach for predicting the prognosis of GC was therefore provided in this study.

This study aimed to explore the clinical characteristics of acute cerebral infarction (ACI) patients with thalassemia through the analysis of clinical data. Adult patients with ACI who were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical College, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical College, Hainan Provincial People’s Hospital, and the Department of Neurology of Haikou People’s Hospital from January 2008 to December 2018 were enrolled. According to the eligibility criteria, 183 ACI patients were examined, of whom there were 33 cases with thalassemia, 50 cases with iron-deficiency anemia (IDA), and 100 non-anemic cases. Laboratory data, including platelet count, homocysteine count, and hemoglobin level, were collected. Besides, the results of auxiliary examinations, such as brain magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography, carotid ultrasound, electrocardiogram, and cardiac color ultrasound, were collected. Baseline clinical data (e.g., history of smoking and drinking) were acquired. The clinical characteristics were compared and analyzed among the three groups. There were more female ACI patients with thalassemia than male ones. Furthermore, lesions in the thalassemia and IDA groups were mainly located in the region from the corona radiata and the centrum semiovale, in which multiple small infarcts were dominant. In the non-anemia group, patients’ lesions were mainly found in the basal ganglia area, and single small infarcts had the highest proportion.

The repair of peripheral nerve injury has always been a difficult clinical problem. Although a variety of treatment methods are available in clinical practice, their efficacy is limited. In recent years, the components carried by adipose stem cell exosomes and their functions have been increasingly discovered. A large number of experiments conducted around the world have shown that adipose-derived stem cell exosomes have a positive effect on the repair of peripheral nerve injury. This article reviews recent progress toward the use of adipose-derived stem cell exosomes in the repair of injured peripheral nerves and possible future research directions involving adipose-derived stem cell exosomes.