German Red Cross

About: German Red Cross is a healthcare organization based out in Berlin, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Transplantation & Mesenchymal stem cell. The organization has 653 authors who have published 1146 publications receiving 40111 citations. The organization is also known as: Deutsches Rotes Kreuz & DRK.

Microarray and allergenic activity assessment of milk allergens

Abstract: SummaryBackground Cow’s milk is one of the most common causes of food allergy affectingapproximately 2.5% of infants in the first years of their life. However, only limitedinformation regarding the allergenic activity of individual cow’s milk allergens is available.ObjectiveToanalysethefrequencyofIgEreactivityandtodeterminetheallergenicactivityofindividual cow’s milk allergens.MethodsA nitrocellulose-based microarray, based on purified natural and recombinant cow’smilk allergens was used to determine IgE reactivity profiles using sera from 78 cow’s milk-sensitized individuals of varying ages. The allergenic activity of the individual allergens wastested using patients’ sera for loading rat basophil leukaemia cells (RBL) expressing thea-chain of the human receptor FceRI.Results Using the microarray and the RBL assay, cow’s milk allergens were assessed forfrequency of IgE recognition and allergenic activity. Moreover, the RBL assay alloweddistinguishing individuals without or with mild clinical reactions from those with severesystemic or gastrointestinal symptoms as well as persons who grew out cow’s milk allergyfrom those who did not.Conclusions Component-resolved testing using milk allergen microarrays and RBL assaysseems to provide useful additional diagnostic information and may represent a basis forfuture forms of prophylactic and therapeutic strategies for cow’s milk allergy.Keywords Basophil degranulation, cow’s milk allergy, diagnosis, microarray, recombinantallergenSubmitted 15 March 2010; revised 8 June 2010; accepted 13 July 2010

Extracellular vesicles secreted by bone marrow- and adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stromal cells fail to suppress lymphocyte proliferation.

Abstract: Recently, mesenchymal stromal cell-derived extracellular vesicles (MSC-EVs) have been suggested as an alternative to MSCs for the treatment of various inflammatory disorders. However, while a first case report observed beneficial therapeutic effects of repeated MSC-EV infusions in a patient with therapy-refractory graft-versus-host disease, in vitro findings revealed that MSC-EVs were significantly less immunosuppressive than their parental cells. In this study, we compared the immunosuppressive potency of MSCs derived from bone marrow (BM-MSCs) and adipose tissue (AT-MSCs), with their secreted EVs in a standardized lymphocyte proliferation assay (LPA). Both BM-MSCs and AT-MSCs exhibited a remarkable inhibition of lymphocyte proliferation (LP) (88.1%±1.5% and 75.5%±1.5%, respectively), while isolated EVs derived from them failed to suppress LP at dose levels up to 100 μg/mL. Thus, our data further substantiate previous reports suggesting that cell–cell contact plays an important role on the immunosuppress...

Human Platelets Express Functional α7-Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors

Abstract: Objective— Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, especially α7 (nAChRα7), form Ca 2+ channels and are expressed on a variety of neuronal and nonneuronal cells. Also, megakaryocytic cells have been shown to contain components of a nonneuronal cholinergic system, including acetylcholine and acetylcholine esterase. However, the corresponding nAChRs and their role in platelet function have not been demonstrated until now. Our previous platelet transcriptome data indicated the presence of nAChR gene transcripts. Methods and Results— Here, we present evidence that human platelets and megakaryocytic precursor cells express nAChRα7 subunits, as revealed by mRNA and protein expression. The subunits form functional Ca 2+ channels, as demonstrated by Ca 2+ entry in platelets induced by the nAChRα7-selective agonist PNU-282987. PNU-282987 also enhanced fibrinogen receptor activation induced by classical platelet agonists (the thromboxane A 2 analog U46619 and ADP). Furthermore, agonist-induced platelet aggregation was significantly inhibited by the nAChRα7-selective antagonists α-bungarotoxin and methyllycaconitine. Conclusion— Ca 2+ influx via nAChRα7 channels represents a novel pathway for human platelets with significant impact on platelet function. Because platelets were suggested to contain acetylcholine, we conclude that on activation, stored acetylcholine is released, which activates nAChRα7 channels and thereby contributes to maintaining intracellular Ca 2+ levels and supporting platelet activation.