Aging reduces the number of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in the bone marrow which leads to impairment of osteogenesis. However, if MSCs could be directed toward osteogenic differentiation, they could be a viable therapeutic option for bone regeneration. We have developed a method to direct the MSCs to the bone surface by attaching a synthetic high affinity and specific peptidomimetic ligand (LLP2A) against integrin α4β1 on the MSC surface, to a bisphosphonate (alendronate, Ale) that has high affinity for bone. LLP2A-Ale increased MSCs migration and osteogenic differentiation in vitro. A single intravenous injection of LLP2A-Ale increased trabecular bone formation and bone mass in both xenotransplantation and immune competent mice. Additionally, LLP2A-Ale prevented trabecular bone loss after peak bone acquisition was achieved or following estrogen deficiency. These results provide a proof of principle that LLP2A-Ale can direct MSCs to the bone to form new bone and increase bone strength.

The thymus contains a population of B cells that colocalize with dendritic cells and medullary thymic epithelial cells in the thymic medulla. The development and functional significance of these cells are largely unknown. Using recombination-activating gene 2 GFP reporter mice along with parabiosis experiments, we demonstrate that the vast majority of thymic B cells develop from progenitors within the thymus. Thymic B cells express unique phenotypic markers compared with peripheral B cells; particularly they express high levels of MHC class II, suggesting that they are poised to present selfantigens efficiently. Using Ig knock-in and T-cell receptor transgenic mice specific for the self-antigen glucose-6-phosphate isomerase, we show that autoreactive thymic B cells serve as efficient antigen-presenting cells for T cell negative selection even when they are present at low frequencies. Furthermore, the endogenous thymic B-cell repertoire also functions in this capacity. These results suggest that developing thymic B cells could efficiently capture a broad array of autoantigens through their B-cell receptors, presenting peptides derived from those autoantigens to developing thymocytes and eliminating cognate T cells.N egative selection purges autoreactive T cells from the immune repertoire and is the major mechanism of central tolerance in the thymus. This process depends on presentation of self-peptides to developing thymocytes by antigen-presenting cells (APCs). The question of which APC presents self-antigen for negative selection has been investigated extensively. Initial studies using bone marrow chimeras found that bone-marrowderived hematopoietic cells are required for negative selection (reviewed in refs. 1 and 2). Many subsequent studies have demonstrated that cortical and medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) can be quite efficient for negative selection as well (1-3). The role of mTECs in deleting T cells specific for tissue-restricted antigens has been highlighted by autoimmunity in both humans and mice possessing mutations in the AIRE gene, which controls the expression of tissue-specific self-antigens in mTECs (4).Bone-marrow-derived APCs include dendritic cells (DCs), B cells, and macrophages. In vitro assays comparing their relative antigen presentation efficiency showed that DCs were the most efficient, leading to the conclusion that DCs were largely responsible for negative selection in the thymus (5). Although B cells are poor at presenting antigens via nonspecific uptake, they capture and internalize cognate antigens that are bound by their B-cell receptors and present them very efficiently (6, 7). Therefore, antigen-specific B cells could be the most efficient APC on a per cell basis for a particular antigen.The thymus contains a small population of B cells that make up around 0.1-0.5% of thymocytes (8-12), similar to the proportion of DCs and mTECs in the thymus (13-15). The origin of thymic B cells has been debated, and development from intrathymic progenitors and migration from the perip...

Regulatory T (Treg) cells and the programmed death-1/programmed death ligand-1 (PD-1/PD-L1) pathway are both critical for maintaining peripheral tolerance to self antigens. A significant subset of Treg cells constitutively expresses PD-1, which prompted an investigation into the role of PD-1/PD-L1 interactions in Treg-cell development, function and induction in vivo. The phenotype and abundance of Treg cells was not significantly altered in PD-1-deficient mice. The thymic development of polyclonal and monospecific Treg cells was not negatively impacted by PD-1 deficiency. The suppressive function of PD-1−/− Treg cells was similar to their PD-1+/+ counterparts both in vitro and in vivo. However, in three different in vivo experimental settings, PD-1−/− conventional CD4+ T cells demonstrated a strikingly diminished tendency toward differentiation into peripherally induced Treg (pTreg) cells. Our results demonstrate that PD-1 is dispensable for thymic (tTreg) Treg-cell development and suppressive function, but is critical for the extrathymic differentiation of pTreg cells in vivo. These data suggest that antibody blockade of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway may augment T-cell responses by acting directly on conventional T cells, and also by suppressing the differentiation of pTreg cells.

N-(5-(2-(5-Chloro-2-methoxyphenylamino)thiazol-4-yl)-4-methylthiazol-2-yl)pivalamide 1 (compound 15Jf) was found previously to correct defective cellular processing of the cystic fibrosis protein ΔF508-CFTR. Eight C4′-C5 C,C-bond-controlling bithiazole analogs of 1 were designed, synthesized, and evaluated to establish that constraining rotation about the bithiazole-tethering has a significant effect on corrector activity. For example, constraining the C4′-C5 bithiazole tether in the s-cis conformation [N-(2-(5-chloro-2-methoxyphenyl-amino)-7,8-dihydro-6H-cyclohepta[1,2-d:3,4-d′]bithiazole-2′-yl)pivalamide; 29] results in improved corrector activity. Heteroatom placement in the bithaizole core is also critical as evidenced by the decisive loss of corrector activity with s-cis constrained N-(2-(5-chloro-2-methoxyphenylamino)-5,6-dihydro-4H-cyclohepta[1,2-d:3,4-d′]bithiazole-2′-yl)pivalamide 33. In addition, computational models were utilized to examine the conformational preferences for select model systems. Following our analysis, the “s-cis locked” cycloheptathiazolothiazole 29 was found to be the most potent bithiazole corrector, with an IC50 of ~450 nM.