Journal: Cell Death & Disease

Article Title: Dexamethasone drives macrophage repolarization linked to increased triple-negative breast cancer aggressiveness

doi: 10.1038/s41419-025-08363-9

Figure Lengend Snippet: A Schematic of DEX treatment during macrophage differentiation (day 0–6). B mRNA expression of the M1 markers CCR7 , CD80 , PTGS2 , and IL1B ( n = 3 [ CCR7 ], 4), and C ) M2 markers CD163 and MRC1 ( n = 3). D Schematic of DEX treatment during macrophage M1 polarization (day 6–8). E mRNA expression of M1 markers ( n = 3 [ PTGS2, IL1B ], 5 [ CCR7, CD80 ]), and F ) M2 markers ( n = 3, 4 [M2 0, M1 0]). H Schematic of DEX treatment of M1 polarized macrophages (days 8–10). I mRNA expression of M1 markers ( n = 3) and J M2 markers ( n = 3). M2 macrophages were not DEX-treated, and comparisons were to M1 polarized macrophages at 0 nM DEX in ( A )–( J ). K mRNA expression of the M2 markers CD163 and MRC1 , and NR3C1 (GR) in primary human peripheral blood monocyte-derived macrophages (hMDMs) after 2 days of vehicle or 100 nM DEX treatment. All mRNA expression was relative to untreated THP-1 cells and normalized to the housekeeping gene HPRT1 in B , C , E , F , I , J , and relative to untreated CD14 + hPBM cells and normalized to HPRT1 in K. Bars represent mean ± SEM. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001. Statistical significance was determined using one-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett’s multiple comparisons correction in B , C , E , F , I , J , and using Student’s unpaired t -test in ( K ).

Article Snippet: In addition, primary CD14 + human peripheral blood monocytes (hPBMs) were purchased from PromoCell (#C-14110) as a single-donor cell pellet stored in RNA later ® .

Techniques: Expressing, Derivative Assay

Journal: bioRxiv

Article Title: A novel role of circCPSF6 regulating antiviral innate immunity via miR-665 and PCBP2-IPS-1 axis

doi: 10.1101/2025.11.03.686289

Figure Lengend Snippet: (A) Heatmap showing clustering of log2 transformed reads per million (RPM) value of circRNAs from RNA seq data (GSE172315) in IAV H9N2 infected A549 cells with relative expression values indicated by blue to red scale (blue, high; red, low). (B) CircCPSF6 expression in control and infected sample from same data. (C) RT-PCR validation of circCPSF6 expression level in A549 cells, infected with PR8 at indicated multiplicity of infection (MOI) and post infection time points. (D) PCR amplification of circCPSF6 and linear CPSF6 using divergent (circRNA specific) and convergent (linear RNA) primers in cDNA or genomic DNA (gDNA) from A549 cells; GAPDH used as control. (E) Schematic representation of circCPSF6 genomic location generated by the back splicing of CPSF6 exons and Sanger sequencing of divergent primer amplicon showing back splice junction (BSJ). (F) Expression of circCPSF6, linear CPSF6 and GAPDH measured with or without RNase R (2U/μg RNA) treatment at 37℃ for 20 mins in A549 cells. (G) Expression of circCPSF6 and linear CPSF6 measured in actinomycin D (2μg/mL) treated A549 cells for indicated time. (H) CircCPSF6 amplification from cDNA prepared using random hexamer and oligo-dT primer. (I) CircCPSF6 copy number quantified by digital PCR (dPCR) in PR8 infected (MOI 1; 24h) A549 cells. (J – L) CircCPSF6 expression in human cell lines (J) MRC5 and THP1, (K) human primary PBMCs, (L) murine primary lung fibroblasts (mpLF) and BMDCs, post PR8 infection (MOI 1; 24h). (M) Schematic representation of in vivo virus challenge and expression of circCpsf6 in mice lung tissue after PR8 infection (PFU 100; 3 days). (N) RNA-FISH using Cy3 labelled antisense-probe designed specific to circCPSF6 BSJ (red) for the cellular localization. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). Scale bar, 10μm. Data are presented as the mean ± SEM from triplicate samples of a single experiment and representative of three independent experiments. **** p < 0.0001, *** p < 0.001, ** p < 0.01 by two-tailed unpaired Student’s t -test or two-way ANOVA test. (Schematics are created with BioRender.com)

Article Snippet: THP1 human peripheral blood monocytes (ATCC TIB-202) were maintained in RPMI-1640 Medium supplemented with 10% Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) and 1% penicillin-streptomycin at 37°C in 5% CO 2 .

Techniques: Transformation Assay, RNA Sequencing, Infection, Expressing, Control, Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction, Biomarker Discovery, Amplification, Generated, Sequencing, Random Hexamer, Digital PCR, In Vivo, Virus, Staining, Two Tailed Test

Journal: bioRxiv

Article Title: Responders vs. non-responders to mesenchymal stromal cells in knee osteoarthritis patients: mechanistic correlates of donor cell attributes and patient features

doi: 10.1101/2025.07.17.665028

Figure Lengend Snippet: A) Higher levels of resistin significantly positively correlated to delta values in KOOS Sports/Rec scores at 24 months. Higher levels of TIMP1 and CCL2 significantly correlated inversely to the percentage change and/or delta in KOOS Sports/Rec scores at 24 months relative to baseline. B) Higher levels of HGF and VEGFA in synovial fluid significantly correlated inversely to delta values and/or percentage change in KOOS Pain scores at 12 months relative to baseline. C) Higher levels of sCD14 and CCL2 significantly correlate inversely to the percentage change and/or delta in KOOS Symptom and Sports/Rec scores at 3 months relative to baseline. Delta and percent change in KOOS values were made relative to baseline and calculated such that positive values represent improvement. N=8-9 patients. Spearman’s correlation. Sports/Rec: function in sport and recreation; MO: month; KOOS: knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score; TIMP1: tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 1; CCL2: chemokine C-C motif ligand 2; HGF: hepatocyte growth factor; sCD14: soluble CD14; VEGFA: vascular endothelial growth factor A.

Article Snippet: Indirect co-culture of unmatched human CD14 + peripheral blood-derived monocytes (STEMCELL Technologies, Vancouver, Canada) with biobanked MSC(M) was performed as previously described [ ].

Techniques: