Congratulations to LaTonya J. Hickson, Sandra M. Herrmann, Bairbre A. McNicholas and Matthew D. Griffin on their recent paper: Progress toward the clinical application of mesenchymal stromal cells and other disease-modulating regenerative therapies. The paper was published online in Kidney360 yesterday, January 27, 2021.
Reference: Kidney360 January 2021, 10.34067/KID.0005692020; DOI: https://doi.org/10.34067/KID.0005692020.
Date: May 23rd 2019.
Audience type: regenerative medicine researchers and postgraduate students
Number of attendees: 30
Date: October 1st 2019.
Audience type: clinical nephrologists, nephrology trainees, laboratory scientists, translational researchers
Number of attendees: 60
Date: October 31st 2019.
Audience type: laboratory researchers, postgraduate students, clinicians
Number of attendees: 50
Date: February 12th 2020.
Audience type: laboratory researchers, postgraduate students
Number of attendees: 30
Date: March 6th 2020.
Audience type: consultant endocrinologists and endocrinology trainees
Number of attendees: 15
Coordinator Prof Tim O’Brien from NUI Galway presented aspects of NEPHSTROM at a recent Marie Curie Innovative Training Network workshop hosted in Galway. Coordinator O’Brien’s talk was entitled, “MSCs as a Therapy for Diabetic Complications.“ The online workshop was held on October 13th and 14th.
RenalToolBox, the ITN hosting the workshop, is taking a coordinated approach to develop novel tools and technologies to assess the safety and efficacy of cell-based regenerative medicine therapies with a focus on kidney disease. See the workshop programme here.
NEPHSTROM results were presented at EU-MSC2, a bi-annual event, organized by partners Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands. The meeting assembles researchers, clinicians and cell product developers working within EU-sponsored research consortia, that focus on mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) therapy for immune-related disorders and tissue regeneration. EU-MSC2, a much-anticipated event provides excellent opportunities for networking, […]
Congratulations to NEPHSTROM partners at the Centre for Public Health, Queen’s University Belfast, the University Hospitals Birmingham, and the National University of Ireland Galway for their recent review: The impact of chronic kidney disease on developed countries from a health economics perspective: A systematic scoping review published in PLoS ONE.
Sarah Elshahat, Paul Cockwell, Alexander P. Maxwell, Matthew Griffin, Timothy O’Brien, and Ciaran O’Neill are the authors of the study which appears in the March 24, 2020 edition of the open-access journal; PLoS ONE 15(3): e0230512. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230512
Congratulations to the team of researchers Tomás Patrick Griffin, Md Nahidul Islam, Deirdre Wall, John Ferguson, Damian Gerard Griffin, Matthew Dallas Griffin and Paula M. O’Shea who published a NEPHSTROM-acknowledged study in Scientific Reports. The open-access paper titled “Plasma dephosphorylated-uncarboxylated Matrix Gla-Protein (dp-ucMGP): reference intervals in Caucasian adults and diabetic kidney disease biomarker potential” can be found in the 5th of December 2019 edition with doi https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-54762-2. Alternatively, download the pdf here.
“Recent studies suggest a possible association between dephosphorylated-uncarboxylated MGP (dp-ucMGP) and glomerular filtration rate (GFR). This study aimed to establish normative data in an adult Caucasian population and to explore the potential utility of dp-ucMGP in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) with and without diabetic kidney disease (DKD).”
Our Coordinator Prof Tim O’Brien of NUI Galway presented REDDSTAR and NEPHSTROM at the RESTORE Horizon (https://www.restore-horizon.eu/): 1st Advanced Therapies Science meeting in Berlin, Germany held on November 25th and 26th, 2019.
MSCs for diabetic complications: Timothy O'brien @nuigalway presents data from the pre-clinical pathways for the use of MSCs to treat diabetic complications. He also discusses results of a trial showing the challenges associated with autologous MSC approaches. #1stATSM pic.twitter.com/oVms9XhJoU
— RESTORE (@RESTOREhorizon) November 26, 2019
“Human mesenchymal stromal cells broadly modulate high glucose-induced inflammatory responses of renal proximal tubular cell monolayers” authored by Md Nahidul Islam, Tomás P. Griffin, Elizabeth Sander, Stephanie Rocks, Junaid Qazi, Joana Cabral, Jasmin McCaul, Tara McMorrow and Matthew D. Griffin at NUI Galway was published today, the 19th of November 2019. The open-access paper appears in Stem Cell Research & Therapy (2019) 10:329, DOI: 10.1186/s13287-019-1424-5 You can download the pdf here.
Renal proximal tubular epithelial cells (RPTEC) are dysfunctional in diabetic kidney disease (DKD). Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) may modulate DKD pathogenesis through anti-inflammatory mediators. This study aimed to investigate the pro-inflammatory effect of extended exposure to high glucose (HG) concentration on stable RPTEC monolayers and the influence of MSC on this response.
Morphologically stable human RPTEC/TERT1 cell monolayers were exposed to 5 mM and 30 mM (HG) D-glucose or to 5 mM D-glucose + 25 mM D-mannitol (MAN) for 5 days with sequential immunoassays of supernatants and end-point transcriptomic analysis by RNA sequencing. Under the same conditions, MSC-conditioned media (MSC-CM) or MSC-containing transwells were added for days 4–5. Effects of CM from HG- and MAN-exposed RPTEC/MSC co-cultures on cytokine secretion by monocyte-derived macrophages were determined.
After 72–80 h, HG resulted in increased RPTEC/TERT1 release of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL). The HG pro-inflammatory effect was attenuated by concentrated (10×) MSC-CM and, to a greater extent, by MSC transwell co-culture. Bioinformatics analysis of RNA sequencing data confirmed a predominant effect of HG on inflammation-related mediators and biological processes/KEGG pathways in RPTEC/TERT1 stable monolayers as well as the non-contact-dependent anti-inflammatory effect of MSC. Finally, CM from HG-exposed RPTEC/MSC transwell co-cultures was associated with attenuated secretion of inflammatory mediators by macrophages compared to CM from HG-stimulated RPTEC alone.
Stable RPTEC monolayers demonstrate delayed pro-inflammatory response to HG that is attenuated by close proximity to human MSC. In DKD, this MSC effect has the potential to modulate hyperglycemia-associated RPTEC/macrophage cross-talk.
NEPHSTROM PI Prof. Matt Griffin visits leading US medical centre Mayo Clinic to discuss EU-funded mesenchymal stromal cell projects
Prof. Matt Griffin of the National University of Ireland Galway visited the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension and the William J von Liebig Transplant Center at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota between September 27th and October 2nd, 2019. While there, he engaged with clinical investigators involved in a range of Mayo Clinic research initiatives in regenerative medicine and transplantation. He gave seminars entitled “Modulating the course of diabetic kidney disease: Are the pieces coming together?” and “Allogeneic MSC in Corneal Re-transplantation: From Pre-clinical Evidence to Regulatory Approval” which focussed on the progress of the NUI Galway-coordinated NEPHSTROM and VISICORT (www.visicort.eu) consortia respectively.
Commenting on the visit, Prof. Griffin, who trained and was a faculty member at Mayo Clinic between 1992 and 2008 said: “There are many shared interests and collaborative links between leading academic centres in the US such as Mayo Clinic and European Commission-funded consortia such as NEPHSTROM and VISICORT. Looking ahead to the next EU research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe, I believe that there will be exciting opportunities to further strengthen these links in the areas of regenerative medicine and cellular therapies for the long-term benefit of people with reduced quality of life due to chronic health conditions.”
