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Fulltext De novo transcriptome analysis shows differential expression of genes in salivary glands of edible bird's nest producing swiftlets

Looi QH, Amin H, Aini I, Zuki M, Omar AR

BMC Genomics, 2017 07 03;18(1):504.
PMID: 28673247 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-017-3861-9

BACKGROUND: Edible bird's nest (EBN), produced from solidified saliva secretions of specific swiftlet species during the breeding season, is one of the most valuable animal by-products in the world. The composition and medicinal benefits of EBN have been extensively studied, however, genomic and transcriptomic studies of the salivary glands of these birds have not been conducted.
RESULTS: The study described the transcriptomes of salivary glands from three swiftlet species (28 samples) generated by RNASeq. A total of 14,835 annotated genes and 428 unmapped genes were cataloged. The current study investigated the genes and pathways that are associated with the development of salivary gland and EBN composition. Differential expression and pathway enrichment analysis indicated that the expression of CREB3L2 and several signaling pathways involved in salivary gland development, namely, the EGFR, BMP, and MAPK signaling pathways, were up-regulated in swiftlets producing white EBN (Aerodramus fuciphagus) and black EBN (Aerodramus maximus) compared with non-EBN-producing swiftlets (Apus affinis). Furthermore, MGAT, an essential gene for the biosynthesis of N-acetylneuraminic acid (sialic acid), was highly expressed in both white- and black-nest swiftlets compared to non-EBN-producing swiftlets. Interspecies comparison between Aerodramus fuciphagus and Aerodramus maximus indicated that the genes involved in N-acetylneuraminic and fatty acid synthesis were up-regulated in Aerodramus fuciphagus, while alanine and aspartate synthesis pathways were up-regulated in Aerodramus maximus. Furthermore, gender-based analysis revealed that N-glycan trimming pathway was significantly up-regulated in male Aerodramus fuciphagus from its natural habitat (cave) compared to their female counterpart.
CONCLUSIONS: Transcriptomic analysis of salivary glands of different swiftlet species reveal differential expressions of candidate genes that are involved in salivary gland development and in the biosynthesis of various bioactive compounds found in EBN.
Fulltext Treatment of spinal cord injury with mesenchymal stem cells

Liau LL, Looi QH, Chia WC, Subramaniam T, Ng MH, Law JX

Cell Biosci, 2020;10:112.
PMID: 32983406 DOI: 10.1186/s13578-020-00475-3

Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is the damage to the spinal cord that can lead to temporary or permanent loss of function due to injury to the nerve. The SCI patients are often associated with poor quality of life.
Results: This review discusses the current status of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy for SCI, criteria to considering for the application of MSC therapy and novel biological therapies that can be applied together with MSCs to enhance its efficacy. Bone marrow-derived MSCs (BMSCs), umbilical cord-derived MSCs (UC-MSCs) and adipose tissue-derived MSCs (ADSCs) have been trialed for the treatment of SCI. Application of MSCs may minimize secondary injury to the spinal cord and protect the neural elements that survived the initial mechanical insult by suppressing the inflammation. Additionally, MSCs have been shown to differentiate into neuron-like cells and stimulate neural stem cell proliferation to rebuild the damaged nerve tissue.
Conclusion: These characteristics are crucial for the restoration of spinal cord function upon SCI as damaged cord has limited regenerative capacity and it is also something that cannot be achieved by pharmacological and physiotherapy interventions. New biological therapies including stem cell secretome therapy, immunotherapy and scaffolds can be combined with MSC therapy to enhance its therapeutic effects.
How far have we reached in development of effective influenza vaccine?

Looi QH, Foo JB, Lim MT, Le CF, Show PL

Int Rev Immunol, 2018;37(5):266-276.
PMID: 30252547 DOI: 10.1080/08830185.2018.1500570

Despite of ongoing research programs and numerous clinical trials, seasonal influenza epidemics remain a major concern globally. Vaccination remains the most effective method to prevent influenza infection. However, current flu vaccines have several limitations, including limited vaccine capacity, long production times, inconsistence efficacy in certain populations, and lack of a "universal" solution. Different next-generation approaches such as cell line-based culture, reverse genetics, and virus expression technology are currently under development to address the aforementioned challenges in conventional vaccine manufacture pipeline. Such approaches hope for safe and scalable production, induce broad-spectrum immunity, create premade libraries of vaccine strains, and target nonvariable regions of antigenic proteins for "universal" vaccination. Here, we discuss the process and challenges of the current influenza vaccine platform as well as new approaches that are being investigated. These developments indicate that an exciting future lies ahead in the influenza vaccine field.
Comparison of Isolation, Expansion and Cryopreservation Techniques to Produce Stem Cells from Human Exfoliated Deciduous Teeth (SHED) with Better Regenerative Potential

Lee SH, Looi CY, Chong PP, Foo JB, Looi QH, Ng CX, et al.

Curr Stem Cell Res Ther, 2021;16(5):551-562.
PMID: 32988356 DOI: 10.2174/1574888X15666200928110923

Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) are adult stem cells that are gaining worldwide attention for their multi-potential use in tissue engineering-based regenerative medicine. They can be obtained from numerous sources and one of the excellent sources is the dental tissue, such as Stem cells that are extracted from the Human Exfoliated Deciduous teeth (SHED). SHED are considered ideal due to their inherent characteristics, including the capability to proliferate quickly with minimal oncogenesis risk, multipotency capacity and their ability to suppress the immune system. On top of these positive cell traits, SHED are easily accessible with the patient's safety assured, posing less ethical issues and could also provide a sufficient number of cells for prospective clinical uses. This is primarily attributed to their ability to differentiate into multiple cell linages, including osteoblasts, odontoblasts, neuronal cells, adipocytes, as well as endothelial cells. Albeit SHED having a bright future, there still remains an obstacle to develop reliable experimental techniques to retain the long-term regeneration potential of the stem cells for prospective research and clinical applications. Therefore, this review aims to describe the various isolation, expansion and cryopreservation techniques used by researchers in this stem cell field. Optimization of these techniques is crucial to obtain distinct SHED culture with preserved stem cell properties, which enable more reproducible results that will be the key for further stem cell therapy development.
Fulltext The Potential of Mesenchymal Stromal Cell as Therapy in Neonatal Diseases

Liau LL, Al-Masawa ME, Koh B, Looi QH, Foo JB, Lee SH, et al.

Front Pediatr, 2020;8:591693.
PMID: 33251167 DOI: 10.3389/fped.2020.591693

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) can be derived from various tissue sources, such as the bone marrow (BMSCs), adipose tissue (ADSCs), umbilical cord (UC-MSCs) and umbilical cord blood (UCB-MSCs). Clinical trials have been conducted to investigate the potential of MSCs in ameliorating neonatal diseases, including bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). In preclinical studies, MSC therapy has been tested for the treatment of various neonatal diseases affecting the heart, eye, gut, and brain as well as sepsis. Up to date, the number of clinical trials using MSCs to treat neonatal diseases is still limited. The data reported thus far positioned MSC therapy as safe with positive outcomes. However, most of these trials are still preliminary and generally smaller in scale. Larger trials with more appropriate controls and a longer follow-up period need to be conducted to prove the safety and efficacy of the therapy more conclusively. This review discusses the current application of MSCs in treating neonatal diseases, its mechanism of action and future direction of this novel therapy, including the potential of using MSC-derived extracellular vesicles instead of the cells to treat various clinical conditions in the newborn.
Fulltext Comparing the Therapeutic Potential of Stem Cells and their Secretory Products in Regenerative Medicine

Foo JB, Looi QH, Chong PP, Hassan NH, Yeo GEC, Ng CY, et al.

Stem Cells Int, 2021;2021:2616807.
PMID: 34422061 DOI: 10.1155/2021/2616807

Cell therapy involves the transplantation of human cells to replace or repair the damaged tissues and modulate the mechanisms underlying disease initiation and progression in the body. Nowadays, many different types of cell-based therapy are developed and used to treat a variety of diseases. In the past decade, cell-free therapy has emerged as a novel approach in regenerative medicine after the discovery that the transplanted cells exerted their therapeutic effect mainly through the secretion of paracrine factors. More and more evidence showed that stem cell-derived secretome, i.e., growth factors, cytokines, and extracellular vesicles, can repair the injured tissues as effectively as the cells. This finding has spurred a new idea to employ secretome in regenerative medicine. Despite that, will cell-free therapy slowly replace cell therapy in the future? Or are these two modes of treatment still needed to address different diseases and conditions? This review provides an indepth discussion about the values of stem cells and secretome in regenerative medicine. In addition, the safety, efficacy, advantages, and disadvantages of using these two modes of treatment in regenerative medicine are also critically reviewed.