Ricerc@Sapienza

Oral diseases have been adversely associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD), which are also the most frequent
cause of death in older population. The aim of this study was to investigate the association among oral status indexes and
CVD in patients aged more than 65 years attending in the Oral department of a public hospital Policlinico Umberto 1 of
Rome. The study population consisted of 533 patients. Dental status was detected measuring the Decayed, Missing, and

A summary of the First Signature Series Event, "Advancements in Cellular Therapies and Regenerative Medicine for Digestive Diseases," held on May 3, 2017, in London, United Kingdom, is presented. Twelve speakers from three continents covered major topics in the areas of cellular therapy and regenerative medicine applied to liver and gastrointestinal medicine as well as to diabetes mellitus.

Behçet’s disease (BD) is a rare systemic vasculitis characterized by oral aphthous ulcers, genital ulcers, ocular lesions and other systemic manifestations. BD occurs most frequently in Eurasian populations along the ancient trading route known as the “Silk Road” which extends from eastern Asia to the Mediterranean basin. The causes of BD are unknown: it is believed to be due to an autoimmune process triggered by an infectious or environmental agent in a genetically predisposed individual.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the progressive death of motor neurons leading to fatal paralysis. The causes of ALS remain unknown; however, evidence supports the presence of autoimmune mechanisms contributing to pathogenesis. Although several environmental factors have been proposed, the only established risk factors are older age, male gender, and a family history of ALS. To date, there are no diagnostic test for ALS, and clinicians rely on the combination of upper motor neuron and lower motor neuron signs in the same body region.

Pertussis is a respiratory infection caused by Bordetella pertussis that may be particularly severe and even lethal in the first months of life when infants are still too young to be vaccinated. Adults and adolescents experience mild symptoms and are the source of infection for neonates. Adoptive maternal immunity does not prevent pertussis in the neonate. We compared the specific immune response of mothers of neonates diagnosed with pertussis and mothers of control children.

Background: Pertussis infection can be severe in unvaccinated infants. A case-control study was conducted to investigate the potential role of breast-feeding in protecting young, unvaccinated infants from pertussis.

Background: The optimal treatment of women with primary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is still debated. About 20–30% of women with APS remain unable to give birth to healthy neonates despite conventional treatment, consisting of prophylactic-dose heparin and low-dose aspirin. These cases are defined “refractory obstetric APS”. The early identification of risk factors associated with poor pregnancy outcome could be the optimal strategy to establish criteria for additional therapies, such as hydroxychloroquine, steroids, intravenous immunoglobulin, and plasma exchange.

To perform their regulatory functions, microRNAs (miRNAs) must assemble with any of the four mammalian Argonaute (Ago) family of proteins, Ago1–4, into an effector complex known as the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). While the mature miRNA guides the RISC complex to its target mRNA, the Ago protein represses mRNA translation. The specific roles of the various Ago members in mediating miRNAs activity, however, haven’t been clearly established.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has been shown to be dramatically effective in the treatment of B-cell malignancies. However, there are still substantial obstacles to overcome, before similar responses can be achieved in patients with solid tumors. We evaluated both in vitro and in a preclinical murine model the efficacy of different 2nd and 3rd generation CAR constructs targeting GD2, a disial-ganglioside expressed on the surface of neuroblastoma (NB) tumor cells.

Sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) is a member of the NAD+-dependent class III deacetylase sirtuin family, which plays a key role in cancer by controlling transcription, genome stability, telomere integrity, DNA repair, and autophagy. Here we analyzed the molecular and biological effects of UBCS039, the first synthetic SIRT6 activator. Our data demonstrated that UBCS039 induced a time-dependent activation of autophagy in several human tumor cell lines, as evaluated by increased content of the lipidated form of LC3B by western blot and of autophagosomal puncta by microscopy analysis of GFP-LC3.