Crosslinked gels (hylans) containing long-chain (MW>1 x 10(6)Da) hyaluronan (HA), a connective tissue GAG, show exceptional biocompatibility for vascular implantation but poorly interact with vascular endothelial cells (ECs). Previous studies showed in situ fragmentation of HA by UV light to bioactivate hylan gels and elicit enhanced EC responses. Since fragmented HA can be pro-inflammatory, it...

Effective antibody responses provide crucial immunity against influenza virus infection. The hemagglutinin (HA) protein is the major target of protective antibody responses induced by viral infection and by vaccination with both inactivated and live-attenuated flu vaccines, but knowledge about the optimal designs of protective HA antigens from different flu serotypes is still limited. In this s...

OBJECTIVE To study the results of implantation of preformed hydroxyapatite (HA) disks and HA cement in onlay augmentation. METHODS In this prospective study involving 16 adult New Zealand rabbits, HA disk and HA cement samples were implanted separately and together along the bony and cartilaginous nasal dorsum as well as over the supraorbital bone. Gross and histologic examinations of the imp...

Hyaluronan (HA) has diverse functions in normal lung homeostasis and pulmonary disease. HA constitutes the major glycosaminoglycan in lung tissue, with HA degradation products, produced by hyaluronidase enzymes and reactive oxygen species, being implicated in several lung diseases, including acute lung injury, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and pulmonary hypertension. The differ...

Cell-matrix adhesion is one of the important interactions that regulates stem cell survival, self-renewal, and differentiation. Our previous report (Wu SC, Chang JK, Wang CK, Wang GJ, Ho ML. Biomaterials 31: 631-640, 2010) indicated that a microenvironment enriched with hyaluronan (HA) initiated and enhanced chondrogenesis in human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs). We further hypothesize tha...

Donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) into patients with a relapse of their leukemia or multiple myeloma after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT) has been shown to be a successful treatment approach. The hematopoiesis-restricted minor histocompatibility antigens (mHAgs) HA-1 or HA-2 expressed on malignant cells of the recipient may serve as target antigens for alloreactive donor T cells. ...

OBJECTIVES It has been shown previously that hyaluronic acid (HA) has an analgesic action on bradykinin induced pain in the knee joints of rats. This study further clarifies the effects of the molecular weight of HA and its mechanism of action in the same model using HA of molecular weight 800 to 2.3 x 10(6) daltons and a bradykinin antagonist. METHODS Bradykinin and the test HA preparations ...

INTRODUCTION Bisphosphonates (BPs) can be locally used to improve the osteogenesis around hydroxyapatite (HA) implants. However, there are almost no reports discussing the effects of BPs in the bonding state with HA on bone mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs). Clodronate is a BP widely used in clinical practice. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of clodronate combined with HA on BMS...

The purposes of this study are to characterize the binding of hyaluronic acid (HA) to mouse T lymphoma cells, to measure changes in intracellular Ca2+ after HA binding, to elucidate the interaction between the HA receptor, GP85(CD44), and ankyrin in the membrane skeleton, and finally to correlate these events with HA receptor patching/capping and cell adhesion to HA. First, we established an in...