1. The prognostic value of whole blood SOX2, NANOG and OCT4 mRNA expression in advanced small-cell lung cancerEva Sodja, Matija Rijavec, Ana Koren, Aleksander Sadikov, Peter Korošec, Tanja Čufer, 2016, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: The data on expression and clinical impact of cancer stem cell markers SOX2, NANOG and OCT4 in lung cancer is still lacking. The aim of our study was to compare SOX2, NANOG and OCT4 mRNA expression levels in whole blood between advanced small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients and healthy controls, and to correlate mRNA expression with progression-free survival (PFS) after first-line chemotherapy and overall survival (OS) in advanced SCLC patients. Patients and methods. 50 advanced SCLC patients treated with standard chemotherapy and followed at University Clinic Golnik, Slovenia, between 2009 and 2013 were prospectively included. SOX2, NANOG and OCT4 mRNA expression levels were determined using TaqMan qPCR in whole blood collected prior to chemotherapy. Whole blood of 34 matched healthy individuals with no cancerous disease was also tested. Results. SOX2 mRNA expression was significantly higher in whole blood of SCLC patients compared to healthy controls (p = 0.006). Significant correlation between SOX2 mRNA expression levels and the number of distant metastatic sites was established (p = 0.027). In survival analysis, patients with high SOX2 expression had shorter OS (p = 0.017) and PFS (p = 0.046). In multivariate Cox analysis, an independent value of high SOX2 expression for shorter OS (p = 0.002), but not PFS was confirmed. No significant differences were observed for NANOG or OCT4 expression levels when comparing SCLC patients and healthy controls neither when analysing survival outcomes in SCLC patients. Conclusions. SOX2 mRNA expression in whole blood might be a promising non-invasive marker for molecular screening of SCLC and important prognostic marker in advanced chemotherapy-treated SCLC patients, altogether indicating important role of cancer stem-like cell (CSC) regulators in cancer spread. Further evaluation of SOX2 as a possible screening/prognostic marker and a therapeutic target of SCLC is warranted.
Ključne besede: small-cell lung cancer, cancer stem cell markers, prognosis
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 30.04.2024; Ogledov: 36; Prenosov: 5
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2. Expansive growth of two glioblastoma stem-like cell lines is mediated by bFGF and not by EGFNeža Podergajs, Narve Brekka, Bernhard Radlwimmer, Christel Herold-Mende, Krishna M. Talasila, Katja Tiemann, Uroš Rajčević, Tamara Lah Turnšek, Rolf Bjerkvig, Hrvoje Miletic, 2013, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Povzetek: Background. Patient-derived glioblastoma (GBM) stem-like cells (GSCs) represent a valuable model for basic and therapeutic research. GSCs are usually propagated in serum-free Neural Basal medium supplemented with bFGF and EGF. Yet, the exact influence of these growth factors on GSCs is still unclear. Recently it was suggested that GBM stemlike cells with amplified EGFR should be cultured in stem cell medium without EGF, as the presence of EGF induced rapid loss of EGFR amplification. However, patient biopsies are usually taken into culture before their genomic profiles are defined. Thus, an important question remains whether GBM cells without EGFR amplification also can be cultured in stem cell medium without EGF.Meterials and methods. To address this question, we used two heterogeneous glioblastoma GSC lines (NCH421k and NCH644) that lack EGFR amplification.Results. Although both cell lines showed very low EGFR expression under standard growth conditions, bFGF stimulation induced higher expression of EGFR in NCH644. In both cell lines, expression of the stem cell markers nestin and CD133 was higher upon stimulation with bFGF compared to EGF. Importantly, bFGF stimulated the growth of both cell lines, whereas EGF had no effect. We verified that the growth stimulation by bFGF was either mediated by proliferation (NCH421k) or resistance to apoptosis (NCH644).Conclusions. We demonstrate that GSC cultures without EGFR amplification can be maintained and expanded with bFGF, while the addition of EGF has no significant effect and therefore can be omitted.
Ključne besede: glioblastoma, stem cell cultures, bFGF
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 03.04.2024; Ogledov: 61; Prenosov: 30
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3. Morphological characteristics of young and old murine hematopoietic stem cell niches, as modeled in vitroMojca Justin, Ema Rogac Randl, Veno Kononenko, Matej Hočevar, Damjana Drobne, Primož Rožman, 2023, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: The hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) niche undergoes detrimental changes with age. The molecular differences between young and
old niches are well studied and understood; however, young and old niches have not yet been extensively characterized in terms of
morphology. In the present work, a 2D stromal model of young and old HSC niches isolated from bone marrow was investigated
using light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to characterize cell density after one, two, or three weeks of culturing, cell
shape, and cell surface morphological features. Our work is aimed at identifying morphological differences between young and
old niche cells that could be used to discriminate between their respective murine HSC niches. The results show several age-
specific morphological characteristics. The old niches differ from the young ones in terms of lower cell proliferating capacity,
increased cell size with a flattened appearance, increased number of adipocytes, and the presence of tunneling nanotubes. In
addition, proliferating cell clusters are present in the young niches but not in the old niches. Together, these characteristics
could be used as a relatively simple and reliable tool to discriminate between young and old murine HSC niches and as a
complementary approach to imaging with specific cellular markers.
Ključne besede: bone marrow, hematoopetic stem cell niche, aging, adipocytes, scanning electron microscopy
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 26.01.2024; Ogledov: 213; Prenosov: 106
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4. Assembly of Pt nanoparticles on graphitized carbon nanofibers as hierarchically-structured electrodesNejc Hodnik, Luigi Romano, Primož Jovanovič, Francisco Ruiz-Zepeda, Marjan Bele, Filippo Fabbri, Luana Persano, Andrea Camposeo, Dario Pisignano, 2020, izvirni znanstveni članek Ključne besede: electrocatalysis, in-situ annealing STEM, platinum nanoparticles, electrodes, electrospinning
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 26.11.2020; Ogledov: 1830; Prenosov: 1153
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5. Reconstruction of rockfall activity through dendrogeomorphology and a scar-counting approach : a study in a beech forest stand in the Trenta valley (Slovenian Alps)Barbara Žabota, Daniel Trappmann, Tom Levanič, Milan Kobal, 2020, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Trees represent an important archive that can be used to reconstruct the spatial and temporal patterns of rockfall events. Rockfall impacts can be recorded in the form of anomalies in tree rings and impact scars on the tree stem. In this paper we demonstrate the use of an approach based on counting scars for reconstructing the frequency and spatial pattern of past rockfalls. The approach was applied by counting the visible scars on the stem surface of 52 European beech trees (Fagus sylvatica L.) in the area of the Trenta Valley, Slovenia. The average number of impacts per trees was 7, and the impacts were mostly classified as old, indicating reduced rockfall activity in recent years. The average recurrence interval was 31.8 years, which was reduced by 1.2 years by the application of the conditional impact probability. The spatial pattern of rockfall impacts shows that rockfall activity is higher in the middle part of the studied slope.
Ključne besede: rockfall, natural hazards, dendrogeomorphology, tree rings, stem scars, recurrence interval
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 01.04.2020; Ogledov: 3957; Prenosov: 3005
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6. Proteases and cytokines as mediators of interactions between cancer and stromal cells in tumoursBarbara Breznik, Helena Motaln, Tamara Lah Turnšek, pregledni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Proteolytic enzymes are highly relevant in different processes of cancer progression. Their interplay with other signalling molecules such as cytokines represents important regulation of multicellular cross-talk. In this review, we discuss protease regulation mechanisms of cytokine signalling in various types of cancer. Additionally, we highlight the reverse whereby cytokines have an impact on protease expression in an autocrine and paracrine manner, representing complex feedback mechanisms among multiple members of these two protein families. The relevance of the protease-cytokine axis is illustrated in glioblastoma, where interactions between normal mesenchymal stem cells and cancer cells play an important role in this very malignant form of brain cancer.
Ključne besede: cellular cross-talk, glioblastoma, invasion, mesenchymal stem cells, protease-cytokine signalling
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 08.09.2017; Ogledov: 3965; Prenosov: 1374
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