Muse cells may provide reparative effects and robust functional recovery and may, thus, provide a novel strategy for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction.

Vitamin D metabolites influence the expression of various genes involved in calcium homeostasis, cell differentiation, and regulation of the immune system. Expression of these genes is mediated by the activation of the nuclear vitamin D receptor (VDR). Previous studies have shown that a hormonally active form of vitamin D, 1␣,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, exerts anticoagulant effects in cultured monocytic cells. To clarify whether activation of VDR plays any antithrombotic actions in vivo, hemostatic/thrombogenic systems were examined in normocalcemic VDR knock-out (KO) mice on a high calcium diet and compared with wild type and hypocalcemic VDRKO mice that were fed a regular diet. Platelet aggregation was enhanced significantly in normocalcemic VDRKO mice compared with wild type and hypocalcemic VDRKO mice. Aortic endothelial nitric-oxide (NO) synthase expression and urinary NOx excretions were reduced in hypocalcemic VDRKO mice, but not in normocalcemic VDRKO mice. Northern blot and RT-PCR analyses revealed that the gene expression of antithrombin in the liver as well as that of thrombomodulin in the aorta, liver and kidney was down-regulated in hypo-and normocalcemic VDRKO mice. Whereas tissue factor mRNA expression in the liver and kidney was up-regulated in VDRKO mice regardless of plasma calcium level. Furthermore, VDRKO mice manifested an exacerbated multi-organ thrombus formation after exogenous lipopolysaccharide injection regardless of the calcemic conditions. These results demonstrate that activation of nuclear VDR elicits antithrombotic effects in vivo, and suggest that the VDR system may play a physiological role in the maintenance of antithrombotic homeostasis.

Kidney failure is an important outcome for patients, clinicians, researchers, healthcare systems, payers, and regulators. However, no harmonized international consensus definitions of kidney failure and key surrogates of progression to kidney failure exist specifically for clinical trials. The International Society of Nephrology convened an international multistakeholder meeting to develop consensus on this topic. A core group, experienced in design, conduct, and outcome adjudication of clinical trials, developed a database of 64 randomized trials and the 163 included definitions relevant to kidney failure. Using an iterative process, a set of proposed consensus definitions were developed and subsequently vetted by the larger multi-stakeholder group of 83 participants representing 18 different countries. The

Abstract. Numerous studies have demonstrated a correlation of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) overexpression with the prognosis of various kinds of cancer. The current study investigated whether the expression of MMPs is correlated with the prognosis of osteosarcoma. Expression levels of MMP-2, -9, MT1-MMP and TIMP-2 were examined immunohistochemically in samples from 47 patients with osteosarcoma. Correlation of the positivity of staining with prognosis was analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier method, and statistically analyzed with log-rank test. Co-localization of MMP-2, MT1-MMP and TIMP-2 was determined by double staining with fluorescence-conjugated antibodies. Activities of gelatinases in representative tissues were examined with gelatin zymography. MMP-2 was expressed strongly in 60% of cases (28/47), and MMP-9, MT1-MMP and TIMP-2 was strongly positive in 61% (29/47), 45% (21/47), and 91% (43/47), respectively. Increased MT1-MMP expression was associated significantly with poor prognosis in overall survival (P=0.0480). In cases of overexpression for both MMP-2 and MT1-MMP, there was a tendency for poor prognosis (P=0.0969). In 36 cases who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy, wide resection of the tumors and post-operative adjuvant chemotherapy, increased expression of MT1-MMP resulted in a significant negative prognostic factor for disease-free survival (P=0.0143). Also, co-overexpression of MT1-MMP and MMP-2 showed a tendency to correlate to the reduced disease-free survival (P=0.0502). Increased gelatinase activity was observed in tissues of co-overexpression of MT1-MMP and MMP-2. The results of this study demonstrate the correlation of MT1-MMP expression and the oncological outcome of osteosarcoma patients, suggesting the prognostic significance of these proteins in osteosarcoma patients. IntroductionOsteosarcoma is the most frequent primary malignant bone tumor in children and adolescents (1-3). In the last two decades, the combination of chemotherapy with surgical treatment dramatically improved the clinical outcome of the patients with osteosarcoma. However, there are still a certain number of patients who do not benefit from these improvements. Attempts have been made to identify prognostic factors to predict outcome, and to determine those patients who should undergo more intensive treatment, however, further work is required.Malignant tumor cell invasion is believed to involve a complex series of integrated events consisting of tumor cell adhesion, extracellular matrix (ECM) proteolysis, and cell migration within the microenvironment (4). Among the proteases contributing to ECM degradation, matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) are thought to play significant roles in tumor invasion and metastasis (5,6). Synthesized as either secreted or membrane-bound latent enzymes, MMPs require proteolytic activation involving cleavage of propeptide domain to exhibit enzymatic activity (7). Cell-mediated pro-MMP-2 activation involves cleavage by MT1-MMP on cell membranes (8,9). The activity of these MMPs is regulated by the...