PURPOSE Transplantation of ex vivo expanded limbal epithelial progenitor cells (LEPCs) on epithelially denuded amniotic membrane (dAM) in supplemented hormonal epithelial medium (SHEM) is an alternative solution for treating corneal blindness due to limbal stem cell (SC) deficiency. Because the phenotype of limbal niche cells (NCs) is preserved better in serum-free modified embryonic stem cell ...

Distinct stem cell populations are present in the skin that comprises the epidermis and the pilosebaceous unit (hair follicle and sebaceous gland) (Clayton et al., 2007; Mascre et al., 2012). Recent studies have highlighted the strong heterogeneity and compartmentalization of stem cell niches in the skin (Jaks et al., 2010; Page et al., 2013). During telogen (resting phase), hair follicle stem ...

24 Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the etiological agent for Kaposi’s sarcoma 25 (KS). Both KSHV and KS are endemic in sub-Saharan Africa where approximately 84% of 26 global KS cases occur. Nevertheless, whole-genome sequencing of KSHV has only been 27 completed using isolates from Western countries—where KS is not endemic. The lack of whole28 genome KSHV sequence data from t...

For the uropathogenic Escherichia coli strain 536 (O6:K15:H31), the DNA sequences of three pathogenicity islands (PAIs) (PAI I(536) to PAI III(536)) and their flanking regions (about 270 kb) were determined to further characterize the virulence potential of this strain. PAI I(536) to PAI III(536) exhibit features typical of PAIs, such as (i) association with tRNA-encoding genes; (ii) G+C conten...

The aim of this study was to investigate the transdifferentiation potential of murine vibrissa hair follicle (HF) stem cells into corneal epithelial-like cells through modulation by corneal- or limbus-specific microenvironmental factors. Adult epithelial stem cells were isolated from the HF bulge region by mechanical dissection or fluorescence-activated cell sorting using antibodies to alpha6 i...

Huntington’s disorder (HD) is one of the neurodegenerative disorders in which the polyglutamine (polyQ) tract of the protein huntingtin (htt) is found to be expanded. First exon of this mutant htt protein is found in the inclusions in the brain of the patient suffering from HD, which is the pathological hallmark of the disease1. Exon-1 of htt comprises of 17 amino acid long N-terminal helix (Nt...

Callitrichine herpesvirus 3 (CalHV-3) was isolated from a B-cell lymphoma arising spontaneously in the New World primate Callithrix jacchus, the common marmoset. Partial genomic sequence analysis definitively identified CalHV-3 as a member of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-related lymphocryptovirus (LCV) genus and extended the known host range of LCVs beyond humans and Old World nonhuman primates...

The toll/interleukin 1 receptor (TIR) domain-containing adaptor protein (TIRAP) plays an important role in the toll-like receptor (TLR) 2, TLR4, TLR7, and TLR9 signaling pathways. TIRAP anchors to phosphatidylinositol (PI) 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) on the plasma membrane and PI (3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PIP3) on the endosomal membrane and assists in recruitment of the myeloid differentiation primary...