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Cell and Molecular Characterization of Failed Human Corneal Grafts. The Role of Matrix Metalloproteinases in Recurrent Corneal Melting.
Brejchová, Kristýna ; Jirsová, Kateřina (advisor) ; Smetana, Karel (referee) ; Heissigerová, Jarmila (referee)
The aim of this work was to investigate the contribution of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) to recurrent corneal melting. Twenty three melted corneas from seven patients were separated into three groups: a) patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome, b) those with rheumatoid arthritis and c) those with other corneal melting underlying pathologies. Eleven cadaverous corneas served as controls. The presence of MMP-1, -2, -3, -7, -8, -9, and -13 was detected using indirect enzyme immunohistochemistry. The active forms of MMP-2 and -9 and MMP- 3 and -7 were examined by gelatin and casein zymography, respectively. The concentrations of active MMP-1 and -3 were measured using activity assays. Increased immunostaining intensity for MMP-1, -2, -3, -7, -8 and -9 was shown in the corneal epithelium and the stroma of almost all melted corneas from all three groups compared to the negative or slightly positive staining of the controls. In the endothelium, immunostaining for MMP-2 and MMP-9 was increased in most specimens of groups II and III and group I, respectively. A markedly higher level of active MMP-2 was detected in six, and active MMP-9 in all, pathologic specimens compared to the controls. In contrast to the completely negative controls, the proenzymes of MMP-3 and -7 were detected in almost all melted...
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Intercellular interactions in skin tumors.
Kučera, Jan ; Smetana, Karel (advisor) ; Masařík, Michal (referee) ; Kovář, Marek (referee)
The dissertation is focused on the study of intercellular interactions in skin tumors. It is based on 5 original publications that cover several topics. We studied the origin of tumor-associated fibroblasts concerning the primary tumor population. We demonstrated using a mouse model that tumor-associated fibroblasts are produced from the host organism and thus did not arise from transformation directly from tumor cells. We also investigated the relationship between tumor-associated fibroblasts and keratinocytes. We have shown that tumor-associated melanoma fibroblasts affect keratinocytes which, under their influence, acquire the features typically observed in migrating cells and cells undergoing epithelial-mesenchymal transition. We studied the interactions between healthy fibroblasts and tumor cells. We have demonstrated that fibroblasts acquired from healthy skin from a patient suffering from melanoma are significantly different from control fibroblasts of healthy donors in the expression profile. Changes in distal fibroblasts support the view of melanoma as a systemic disease. We have further demonstrated that melanoma-associated fibroblasts do not carry a BRAF mutation, in contrast to BRAF positivity of melanoma cells. And therefore, they did not arise from the transition from melanoma. The...
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Overcoming cancer resistance to chemotherapy through HPMA copolymer conjugates
Sivák, Ladislav ; Kovář, Marek (advisor) ; Smetana, Karel (referee) ; Palich Fučíková, Jitka (referee)
Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a common cause of failure in chemotherapy for malignant diseases. Cancer cells develop MDR most often via the up-regulation of P- glycoprotein (P-gp) expression. P-gp is an efflux pump with broad specificity belonging to ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters which decreases the intracellular concentration of various drugs. We designed polymeric conjugates based on an N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide (HPMA) bearing a cytostatic drug and/or P-gp inhibitor and tested their cytostatic/cytotoxic activity in vitro and their therapeutic efficacy in vivo in MDR tumors. We demonstrated that HPMA copolymer conjugates bearing both the cytostatic drug (doxorubicin (Dox) or pirarubicin) and the P-gp inhibitor (derivative of reversin 121 (R121) or ritonavir) possess remarkable cytostatic and cytotoxic activity in MDR tumor cell lines in vitro and superior antitumor activity in vivo. Notably, the HPMA copolymer conjugate bearing both Dox and R121 showed significant antitumor activity in both P388/MDR and CT26 mouse tumor models and was capable to completely cure 6 out of 8 mice with established CT26 tumors. We explored the potential of micelle-forming HPMA copolymer-poly(propylene oxide) (PPO) diblock bearing Dox to overcome MDR in vitro and in vivo. The HPMA copolymer-PPO diblock...
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Studies of intercellular interactions in tumours
Jechová, Alžběta ; Smetana, Karel (advisor) ; Skalníková, Helena (referee) ; Masařík, Michal (referee)
Beside tumor cells themselves, tumors consist of many non-malignantly transformed cellular elements and an extracellular matrix. This so-called tumor microenvironment, or stroma, significantly influences the biological properties of the tumor through intercellular interactions. In this thesis I have focused on the study of tumor-associated fibroblasts in squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck, malignant melanoma and glioblastoma. The data show the presence of cells with mesenchymal characteristics, present even in the glioblastoma stroma, which could potentially have a positive effect on proliferative activity and invasiveness of glioblastoma cells. In malignant melanoma, the presence of keratinocytes should also be considered, as they are the major cells of the epidermis influencing tumor melanocytes. The conditioned medium from UVB irradiated keratinocytes and non-irradiated fibroblasts stimulates the invasion of malignant melanoma cells. Targeting the tumor stroma may be a new direction in oncological therapy, so we have focused on the influence of synthetic polyamine on the formation of myofibroblasts, which are an active part of the population of tumor-associated fibroblasts. The tested polyamine prevents the formation of myofibroblasts but has no effect on those already formed nor on...
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Anti-tumor activity and toxicity of HPMA copolymer conjugates bearing cytostatic drug
Tomalová, Barbora ; Kovář, Marek (advisor) ; Smetana, Karel (referee) ; Špíšek, Radek (referee)
7 ABSTRACT In this study, we addressed the biological activity and pharmacological features of selected HPMA copolymer-based drug conjugates. We determined their cytostatic activity in vitro as well as toxicity in vivo and therapeutic effcicacy in mouse tumor models. Assessment of maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of two structurally different HPMA copolymer-based conjugates bearing doxorubicin (DOX) attached via pH-sensitive hydrazon bond (HPMA- DOXHYD ) showed that high molecular weight non-degradable star HPMA-DOXHYD conjugate possesses relatively low MTD ~22.5 mg DOX/kg, while linear HPMA-DOXHYD has MTD ~85 mg DOX/kg. Thus, MTD of linear conjugate is 3.7 times higher than that of the star conjugate. Subsequently, we reported that linear conjugate proved to be more efficient in case of treatment of solid tumor EL4 lymphoma and star conjugate to be superior in case of BCL1 leukemia treatment. We also compared biological activity of star and linear HPMA copolymer-based conjugates bearing docetaxel (DTX) attached via pH-sensitive hydrazon bond (HPMA-DTXHYD ). MTD of star conjugate (~160 mg DTX/kg) was proved to be 4 times higher than MTD od free DTX (40 mg/kg). We were not able to determine MTD of linear conjugate as it exceeded 200 mg DTX/kg (the highest soluble dose we were able to administer as a bolus)....
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Polymer drug carries based on HPMA copolymers facilitating solid tumour drug targeting and pH-triggered activation
Chytil, Petr ; Ulbrich, Karel (advisor) ; Sedláček, Jan (referee) ; Stiborová, Marie (referee) ; Smetana, Karel (referee)
2. Summary of the PhD. Thesis Introduction The use of synthetic polymer carriers of anticancer drugs represents a promising approach to cancer therapy. Conjugation of cýotoxic drugs with polymers may reduce their toxicity and immunogenicity, eliminate undesirable body interactions, improve their solubility, bioavailability and stability (enzymatic. thermal, etc.), and prolong blood clearance' Moreover, polStmer drug carriers may enable specific delivery to the diseased tissue and controlled drug release in therapeutically active form. Since the first papers were published in the late 1970's the concept of polymer drug carrier systems has been generally accepted. In principle basic water-soluble poll,tner drug delivery systems consist of three parts: of polymer carrier, biodegradable spacer and drug. Preferably, drugs are covalently bound to the pol}mers via spacers, which enable controlled release of active drug in the target tissue or cells. Probably, most of the studied polymer carriers of cancerostatic drugs have been designed as lysosomotropic systems, where the drug could be released by enzymes rn lysosomes of tumour cells. In recent years pH-triggered hydrolytic drug release has been intensively studied. Here, the presence of enzynes is not essential, as the drug might be released in endosomes in...
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The effect of carbon nanostructures on human cell behavior and the role of fetal bovine serum in cell adhesion
Verdánová, Martina ; Hubálek Kalbáčová, Marie (advisor) ; Brábek, Jan (referee) ; Smetana, Karel (referee)
Graphene (G) and nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) are carbon allotropes and promising nanomaterials with an excellent combination of their properties, such as high mechanical strength, electrical and thermal conductivity, possibility of functionalization and very high surface area to volume ratio. For these reasons, G and NCD are employed next to electronics in biomedical applications, including implant coating, drug and gene delivery and biosensing. For a fundamental characterization of cell behavior on G and NCD, we studied osteoblast adhesion and proliferation on differently treated G and NCD. Generally, both G and NCD exhibited better properties for osteoblast cultivation than control tissue culture polystyrene. Better cell adhesion but lower cell proliferation were observed on NCD compared to G. The most surprising finding was that hydrophobic G with nanowrinkled topography enhanced cell proliferation extensively, in comparison to hydrophilic and flat G and both NCDs (hydrophobic and hydrophilic) with slightly higher roughness. Promoted cell proliferation enables faster cell colonization of G and NCD substrates, meaning faster new tissue formation which is beneficial in biomedical applications. Furthermore, it was shown that osteoblast adhesion was promoted in the initial absence of fetal bovine...
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The Growth of vascular and skin cells on polymer materials for tissue engineering
Bačáková, Markéta ; Bačáková, Lucie (advisor) ; Smetana, Karel (referee) ; Daniel, Matej (referee)
The ideal vascular or skin substitute is able to simulate the functions of original vascular or skin tissue. To reach this goal, the tissue substitute should be based on a biomaterial scaffold of an appropriate structure and desirable physical and chemical properties. These properties strongly influence successful implantation of the substitute to the patient's organism, substitute durability in the organism, and the desired colonization of the scaffolds with cells. These properties have a great impact on the adhesion, proliferation, differentiation, and desired phenotypic maturation of cells. Most of the biomaterials used for constructing clinically used tissue substitutes do not have appropriate properties for sufficient cell colonization, and thus their surface modification is needed. This thesis focuses on the improvement of biomaterial surface properties for successful cell colonization by plasma treatment, or by grafting and coating biomaterials with bioactive substances and extracellular matrix proteins. The modification of polyethylene (PE) foils by Ar+ plasma discharge showed a positive effect on the spreading, proliferation, and phenotypic maturation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC). Subsequent grafting of the plasma-activated surface with bioactive substances further influenced cell...
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