Multipotent stromal cells can be isolated from a variety of different tissues in the body. In contrast to stromal cells from the adult bone marrow (BM) or adipose tissue, cord blood (CB) multipotent stromal cells (MSC) are biologically younger. Since first being described by our group, delta like 1 homologue (DLK-1) was determined as a discriminating factor between the distinct cord blood-deriv...

Aim Endometriosis is defined as the presence of endometrial glandular and stromal cells outside of the uterine cavity. A previous study reported that microRNA (miR)-542-3p plays a critical role in eutopic endometrial decidualization. This study aims to clarify the potential role of miR-542-3p and the target gene, IGFBP-1 (insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 1), in the impairment of the d...

Background. Hypercortisolism and type 2 diabetes (T2D) share clinical characteristics. We examined pioglitazone's effects on the GH-IGF-I and HPA axes in men with varying glucose intolerance. Methods. 10 men with T2D and 10 with IGT received pioglitazone 30-45 mg for 12 weeks. OGTT with microdialysis in subcutaneous adipose tissue and 1 μg ACTH-stimulation test were performed before and after. ...

Maternal obesity has a major impact on pregnancy outcomes. There is growing evidence that maternal obesity has a negative influence on placental development and function, thereby adversely influencing offspring programming and health outcomes. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these processes are poorly understood. We analysed ten term placenta's whole transcriptomes in obese (n = 5)...

MSCs derived from the umbilical cord tissue, termed UCX, were investigated for their immunomodulatory properties and compared to bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSCs), the gold-standard in immunotherapy. Immunogenicity and immunosuppression were assessed by mixed lymphocyte reactions, suppression of lymphocyte proliferation and induction of regulatory T cells. Results showed that UCX were less imm...

CUL7 binds to SKP1, RBX1, and FBXW8 to form a cullin-RING ligase, or an SKP1-cullin-F box protein complex. The targeted disruption of the Cul7 gene in mice results in significant reduction in embryo size and neonatal lethality. In humans, CUL7 was found to be mutated in the 3-M dwarfism syndrome characterized by severe pre- and postnatal growth retardation, indicating that CUL7 is closely assoc...

High Mobility Group A are non-histone nuclear proteins that regulate chromatin plasticity and accessibility, playing an important role both in physiology and pathology. Their activity is controlled by transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and post-translational mechanisms. In this study we provide evidence for a novel modulatory mechanism for HMGA functions. We show that HMGAs are complexed in...

The transcription factor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha) is an important regulator of hepatic lipid metabolism. While PPARalpha is known to activate transcription of numerous genes, no comprehensive picture of PPARalpha binding to endogenous genes has yet been reported. To fill this gap, we performed Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-chip in combination with tran...

AIMS/HYPOTHESES To examine hepatic expression of cholesterol-trafficking proteins, mitochondrial StarD1 and endosomal StarD3, and their relationship with dyslipidaemia and steatosis in Zucker (fa/fa) genetically obese rats, and to explore their functional role in lipid metabolism in rat McArdle RH-7777 hepatoma cells. METHODS Expression of StarD1 and StarD3 in rat liver and hepatoma samples w...