Project description:Perinatal brain injury is a major clinical problem associated with high neonatal mortality and morbidity and an increased risk of life-long chronic disabilities. Despite improved survival rates, the absolute numbers of neurological handicaps of perinatal origin have not decreased. There is currently no pharmacological treatment providing neuroprotction in neonates. As activation of the innate immune response is a key contributing factor to brain injury in both term and preterm infants we investigated the therapeutic potential of novel immunomodulatory innate defence regulator peptides (IDRs) in perinatal brain injury. IDR-1018 significantly reduced the production of inflammatory mediators by LPS-stimulated microglia cells in vitro. IDR-1018 was also neuroprotective in a clinically-relevant animal model of neonatal brain injury, exerting effects on regulatory molecules of TLR-, Ca2+- and p53-signaling. Of utmost importance, IDR-1018 markedly protected both white and grey brain matter when administered after the injury, thus has tremendous applicability to the clinical setting. Here we demonstrate for the first time that peripheral administration of an immunomodulatory peptide is neuroprotective in vivo in a clinically relevant model of perinatal brain damage.
Project description:Perinatal brain injury is a major clinical problem associated with high neonatal mortality and morbidity and an increased risk of life-long chronic disabilities. Despite improved survival rates, the absolute numbers of neurological handicaps of perinatal origin have not decreased. There is currently no pharmacological treatment providing neuroprotction in neonates. As activation of the innate immune response is a key contributing factor to brain injury in both term and preterm infants we investigated the therapeutic potential of novel immunomodulatory innate defence regulator peptides (IDRs) in perinatal brain injury. IDR-1018 significantly reduced the production of inflammatory mediators by LPS-stimulated microglia cells in vitro. IDR-1018 was also neuroprotective in a clinically-relevant animal model of neonatal brain injury, exerting effects on regulatory molecules of TLR-, Ca2+- and p53-signaling. Of utmost importance, IDR-1018 markedly protected both white and grey brain matter when administered after the injury, thus has tremendous applicability to the clinical setting. Here we demonstrate for the first time that peripheral administration of an immunomodulatory peptide is neuroprotective in vivo in a clinically relevant model of perinatal brain damage. In this second data set, adult mice were used for comparison.
Project description:The goal of this study was to identify the role of glycolysis in the activity of immunomodulatory peptides with respect to macrophage function using the glycolytic inhibitor 2-deoxy-d-glucose
Project description:Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have demonstrated promise when delivered to damaged tissue or tissue defects for their cytokine secretion and inflammation modulation behaviors that can promote repair. Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) has been shown to augment MSCs’ viability and survival and promote their secretion of cytokines that signal to endogenous cells, in the treatment of myocardial infarction, wound healing, and age-related diseases. Biomaterial cell carriers can be functionalized with growth factor-mimetic peptides to enhance MSC function while promoting cell retention and minimizing off-target effects seen with direct administration of soluble growth factors. Here, we functionalized alginate hydrogels with three distinct IGF-1 peptide mimetics and the integrin-binding peptide, cyclic RGD. One IGF-1 peptide mimetic (IGM-3) was found to activate Akt signaling and support survival of serum-deprived MSCs. MSCs encapsulated in alginate hydrogels that presented both IGM-3 and cRGD showed a significant reduction in pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion when challenged with interleukin-1β. Finally, MSCs cultured within the cRGD/IGM-3 hydrogels were able to blunt pro-inflammatory gene expression of human primary cells from degenerated intervertebral discs. These studies indicate the potential to leverage cell adhesive and IGF-1 growth factor peptide mimetics together to control therapeutic secretory behavior of MSCs.
Project description:Nuclear factor erythroid 2 like (Nfe2l) gene family members 1-3 mediate cellular response to oxidative stress, including in the central nervous system (CNS). However, neuronal functions of Nfe2l3 are unknown. Here, we comparatively evaluated expression of Nfe2l1, Nfe2l2, and Nfe2l3 in singe cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq)-profiled cortical and retinal ganglion cell (RGC) CNS projection neurons, investigated whether Nfe2l3 regulates neuroprotection and axon regeneration after CNS injury in vivo, and characterized a gene network associated with Nfe2l3 in neurons. We showed that, Nfe2l3 expression transiently peaks in developing immature cortical and RGC projection neurons, but is nearly abolished in adult neurons and is not upregulated after injury. Furthermore, within the retina, Nfe2l3 is enriched in RGCs, whereas Nfe2l1 and Nfe2l2 are expressed robustly in other retinal cell types as well, and are also upregulated after injury. We also found that, expressing Nfe2l3 in injured RGCs through localized intralocular viral vector delivery promotes neuroprotection and long-distance axon regeneration after optic nerve injury in vivo. Moreover, Nfe2l3 treatment provided a similar extent of neuroprotection and axon regeneration as viral vector-targeting of Pten and Klf9, which are prominent regulators of neuroprotection and long-distance axon regeneration. Finally, we bioinformatically characterized a gene network associated with Nfe2l3 in neurons, which revealed the association of Nfe2l3 with established mechanisms of neuroprotection and axon regeneration. Thus, Nfe2l3 is a novel neuroprotection and axon regeneration-promoting factor with a therapeutic potential for treating CNS injury and disease.