St Thomas' Hospital

About: St Thomas' Hospital is a healthcare organization based out in London, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Pregnancy. The organization has 12105 authors who have published 15596 publications receiving 624309 citations. The organization is also known as: St Thomas's Hospital & St. Thomas's.

Antiphospholipid antibodies--autoantibodies with a difference.

Abstract: Antiphospholipid antibodies may be detected by solid phase anticardiolipin antibody tests, the lupus anticoagulant test, or standard tests for syphilis (STS). The occurrence of these antibodies has been associated with venous or arterial thrombosis, fetal loss, and possibly thrombocytopenia. Other suggested features that may be associated with these antibodies include livedo reticularis, migraine, chorea, and heart valve lesions. Uncontrolled studies of small numbers of affected women with recurrent fetal loss suggest that prednisone and aspirin therapy during pregnancy may improve pregnancy outcome. Anticoagulant therapy is recommended for patients with thrombosis for as long as antiphospholipid antibodies persist.

Toxic action of advanced glycation end products on cultured retinal capillary pericytes and endothelial cells: relevance to diabetic retinopathy

Abstract: The toxic effects of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) on bovine retinal capillary pericytes (BRP) and endothelial cells (BREC) were studied. AGE-modified bovine serum albumin (AGE-BSA) was toxic to BRP. At a concentration of 500 μg/ml it reduced the BRP number to 48 ± 3 % (p < 0.05) of untreated controls, as determined by cell counting with haemocytometer. AGE-BSA was also toxic to bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC) reducing cell number to 84 ± 3.1 % of untreated controls. Under similar conditions, low concentrations (62.5 μg/ml) of AGE-BSA were mitogenic to BREC increasing the cell proliferation to 156 ± 11 % (p < 0.05) above that of untreated controls. At a higher dose of 500 μg/ml AGE-BSA decreased the proliferation of BREC to 85 ± 6 % of untreated controls. Immunoblot analysis demonstrated that BRP and BREC express the p60 AGE-receptor. Retinal capillary bed from the human also stained positively for the p60 AGE-receptor. Addition of 0.25 μg/ml of p60 AGE-receptor antibody was able to block the effects of AGE-BSA on BRP and BREC. The level of binding of [125I]-labelled AGE-BSA to the cell surface was small but significant among the three cell types. There was also an increase in the internalized pool of radioligand in BRP and BREC but this was very much lower than in BAEC. In all the cell types the internalized pool of [125I]-labelled AGE-BSA was much larger than the amount associated with the cell surface. Degradation products were not detected in the media over the 24-h incubation of the cells with [125I]AGE-BSA. The binding of [125I]-labelled AGE-BSA to the cell surface was prevented by the addition of p60 AGE-receptor. These results suggest that the interaction of AGE-modified proteins with the membrane-bound AGE-receptor may play an important role in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy. [Diabetologia (1997) 40: 156–164]

Lipopolysaccharide-induced alteration of mitochondrial morphology induces a metabolic shift in microglia modulating the inflammatory response in vitro and in vivo

Abstract: Accumulating evidence suggests that changes in the metabolic signature of microglia underlie their response to inflammation. We sought to increase our knowledge of how pro-inflammatory stimuli induce metabolic changes. Primary microglia exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-expressed excessive fission leading to more fragmented mitochondria than tubular mitochondria. LPS-mediated Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) activation also resulted in metabolic reprogramming from oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis. Blockade of mitochondrial fission by Mdivi-1, a putative mitochondrial division inhibitor led to the reversal of the metabolic shift. Mdivi-1 treatment also normalized the changes caused by LPS exposure, namely an increase in mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production and mitochondrial membrane potential as well as accumulation of key metabolic intermediate of TCA cycle succinate. Moreover, Mdivi-1 treatment substantially reduced LPS induced cytokine and chemokine production. Finally, we showed that Mdivi-1 treatment attenuated expression of genes related to cytotoxic, repair, and immunomodulatory microglia phenotypes in an in vivo neuroinflammation paradigm. Collectively, our data show that the activation of microglia to a classically pro-inflammatory state is associated with a switch to glycolysis that is mediated by mitochondrial fission, a process which may be a pharmacological target for immunomodulation.