In vitro red blood cell (RBC) production offers a promising complement to conventional blood donation, particularly for patients with rare blood types. Previously, we developed imBMEP-A, the first erythroid cell line derived from reticulocyte progenitors, which maintains robust hemoglobin expression and erythroid differentiation in the presence of erythropoietin (EPO) despite its immortalized state. However, clinical translation remains hindered by the inability to scale up production due to impaired in vitro enucleation of RBC progenitor cell lines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Sci Technol
August 2025
The concept of metabolic disruption through exposure to chemicals has expanded our understanding of how environmental pollution can contribute to metabolic dysregulation and, ultimately, diseases like obesity. New strategies for assessing the risks posed by chemicals are needed, and omics technologies, including proteomics, have proven to be powerful tools for investigating the molecular mechanisms of these metabolism-disrupting chemicals (MDCs). A potential MDC is the plasticizer DINCH─an alternative to legacy phthalates like DEHP, whose primary metabolite MINCH has been linked to the induction of adipogenesis and lipid accumulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe winters in the region of the vast global freshwater biodiversity hotspot Lake Baikal are extremely cold. Although the conditions for reproduction may seem unfavorable during winter, the lake is inhabited by a major endemic winter-reproducing amphipod species complex. Compared with Baikal's summer-reproducing amphipod species, the duration of a reproduction cycle in the winter-reproducing species is more extended.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFApolipoproteins (Apo) A-I and A-II are major components of high-density lipoproteins (HDL) with immunomodulatory functions. Low serum apoA-I levels indicate complications of cirrhosis. We hypothesized that HDL-associated apolipoproteins in ascitic fluid (AF) are differentially abundant during spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground & Aims: Acute liver failure (ALF) is defined as rapid onset coagulopathy and encephalopathy in patients without a prior history of liver disease. We performed untargeted and targeted serum proteomics to delineate processes occurring in adult patients with ALF and to identify potential biomarkers.
Methods: Sera of 319 adult patients with ALF (∼50% acetaminophen [APAP]-related cases) were randomly selected from admission samples of the multicenter USA Acute Liver Failure Study Group consortium and subdivided into discovery/validation cohorts.
Environ Int
February 2025
Plastic materials are ubiquitous, leading to constant human exposure to plastic additives such as plasticizers. There is growing evidence that plasticizers may contribute to obesity due to their disruptive effects on metabolism. Alternatives like diisononylcyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH) are replacing traditional phthalates such as di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), which are now banned due to their proven harmful health effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: This research investigates the determinants of circulating FGF21 levels in a cohort reflecting metabolic disease progression, examining the associations of circulating FGF21 with morphology and function of adipose tissue (AT), and with metabolic adjustments following metabolic surgery.
Methods: We measured serum FGF21 in 678 individuals cross-sectionally and in 189 undergoing metabolic surgery longitudinally. Relationships between FGF21 levels, AT histology, transcriptomes and proteomes, cardiometabolic risk factors, and post-surgery metabolic adjustments were assessed using univariate and multivariate analyses, causal mediation analysis, and network integration of AT transcriptomes and proteomes.
Background: Canine mammary tumours (CMT) are among the most common types of tumours in female dogs. Diagnosis currently requires invasive tissue biopsies and histological analysis. Tumour cells shed extracellular vesicles (EVs) containing RNAs and proteins with potential for liquid biopsy diagnostics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this perspective paper, we discuss the negative impacts of plastics and associated chemicals on the triple planetary crisis of environmental pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss from a multidisciplinary perspective. Plastics are part of the pollution crisis, threatening ecosystems and human health. They also impact climate change and accelerate biodiversity loss; in this, they aggravate the triple planetary crisis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Obesity is associated with a plethora of health complications, including increased susceptibility to infections or decreased vaccine efficacy, partly due to dysregulated immune responses. Monocytes play a crucial role in innate immunity, yet their functional alterations in obesity remain poorly understood.
Methods: Here, we employed proteomic and metabolomic analyses to investigate monocyte characteristics in individuals with overweight, obesity, impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and type 2 diabetes (T2D), compared to lean donors.
Microbiome Res Rep
January 2024
The intestinal microbiota and its metabolites are known to influence host metabolic health. However, little is known about the role of specific microbes. In this work, we used the minimal consortium Oligo-Mouse-Microbiota (OMM12) to study the function of under defined conditions in gnotobiotic mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObesity, characterized by enlarged and dysfunctional adipose tissue, is among today's most pressing global public health challenges with continuously increasing prevalence. Despite the importance of post-translational protein modifications (PTMs) in cellular signaling, knowledge of their impact on adipogenesis remains limited. Here, we studied the temporal dynamics of transcriptome, proteome, central carbon metabolites, and the acetyl- and phosphoproteome during adipogenesis using LC-MS/MS combined with PTM enrichment strategies on human (SGBS) and mouse (3T3-L1) adipocyte models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Res
July 2024
Growing evidence suggests that exposure to certain metabolism-disrupting chemicals (MDCs), such as the phthalate plasticizer DEHP, might promote obesity in humans, contributing to the spread of this global health problem. Due to the restriction on the use of phthalates, there has been a shift to safer declared substitutes, including the plasticizer diisononyl-cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH). Notwithstanding, recent studies suggest that the primary metabolite monoisononyl-cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid ester (MINCH), induces differentiation of human adipocytes and affects enzyme levels of key metabolic pathways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSince European regulators restricted the use of bacteriocidic triclosan (TCS), alternatives for TCS are emerging. Recently, TCS has been shown to reprogram immune metabolism, trigger the NLRP3 inflammasome, and subsequently the release of IL-1β in human macrophages, but data on substitutes is scarce. Hence, we aimed to examine the effects of TCS compared to its alternatives at the molecular level in human macrophages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough macrophages are known to be affected by their redox status, oxidation is not yet a well-recognized post-translational modification (PTM) in regulating macrophages and immune cells in general. While it has been described that the redox status of single cysteines in specific proteins is relevant for macrophage functions, global oxidation information is scarce. Hence, we globally assessed the impact of oxidation on macrophage activation using untargeted proteomics and PTM-omics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFToxicol Appl Pharmacol
September 2023
Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is the predominant form of immunotoxicity in humans. The sensitizing potential of chemicals can be assessed in vitro. However, a better mechanistic understanding could improve the current OECD-validated test battery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe thyroid hormones (THs) regulate various physiological mechanisms in mammals, such as cellular metabolism, cell structure, and membrane transport. The therapeutic drugs propylthiouracil (PTU) and phenytoin are known to induce hypothyroidism and decrease blood thyroid hormone levels. To analyze the impact of these two drugs on systemic metabolism, we focused on metabolic changes after treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn past times, the analysis of endocrine disrupting properties of chemicals has mainly been focused on (anti-)estrogenic or (anti-)androgenic properties, as well as on aspects of steroidogenesis and the modulation of thyroid signaling. More recently, disruption of energy metabolism and related signaling pathways by exogenous substances, so-called metabolism-disrupting chemicals (MDCs) have come into focus. While general effects such as body and organ weight changes are routinely monitored in animal studies, there is a clear lack of mechanistic test systems to determine and characterize the metabolism-disrupting potential of chemicals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aim: Since hepatocytes produce majority of serum proteins, patients with cirrhosis display substantial alterations in the serum proteome. The aim of the current study was to characterize these changes and to study the prognostic utility of hepatocellular proteins available in routine clinical testing.
Methods: Sera from 29 healthy controls and 43 patients with cirrhosis were subjected to untargeted proteomic analysis.
Iran J Allergy Asthma Immunol
December 2022
The green-lipped mussel (Perna canaliculus) originates from New Zealand. To preserve the health benefits of green-lipped mussel meat, it is freeze-dried to make a long-lasting powder. The powder is used to treat arthritis because of its potential anti-inflammatory properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Res Toxicol
December 2022
To reduce the need for animal tests, assays are often used as alternative methods. To derive toxic doses for higher tier organisms from assay results, quantitative extrapolation (qIVIVE) based on physiological-based toxicokinetic (PBTK) models is typically the preferred approach. Such PBTK models require many input parameters to address the route from dose to target site concentration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComp Biochem Physiol Part D Genomics Proteomics
March 2023
The cellular heat shock response (HSR) comprises transcriptomic and proteomic reactions to thermal stress. It was here addressed, how the proteomic, together with the transcriptomic HSR, relate to the thermal sensitivities of three cold-adapted but differently thermo-sensitive freshwater amphipod species. The proteomes of thermosensitive Eulimnogammarus verrucosus and thermotolerant Eulimnogammarus cyaneus, both endemic to Lake Baikal, and of thermotolerant Holarctic Gammarus lacustris were investigated upon 24 h exposure to the species-specific 10 % lethal temperatures (LT10).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn equilibrium between proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory immune responses is essential for maternal tolerance of the fetus throughout gestation. To study the participation of fetal tissue-derived factors in this delicate immune balance, we analyzed the effects of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) on murine Treg cells and Th17 cells , and on pregnancy outcomes, fetal and placental growth, blood flow velocities and remodeling of the uterine vascular bed . Compared with untreated CD4CD25 T cells, hCG increased the frequency of Treg cells upon activation of the LH/CG receptor.
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