Browsing by Author "El Masry, Mohamed S."

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    Bacterial Pyocyanin Inducible KRT6A Accelerates Closure of Epithelial Defect Under Conditions of Mitochondrial Dysfunction
    (Elsevier, 2023) Ghatak, Subhadip; Hemann, Craig; Boslett, James; Singh, Kanhaiya; Sharma, Anu; El Masry, Mohamed S.; Abouhashem, Ahmed Safwat; Ghosh, Nandini; Mathew-Steiner, Shomita S.; Roy, Sashwati; Zweier, Jay L.; Sen, Chandan K.; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Repair of epithelial defect is complicated by infection and related metabolites. Pyocyanin is one such metabolite which is secreted during Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. Keratinocyte migration is required for the closure of skin epithelial defects. The current work sought to understand pyocyanin-keratinocyte interaction and its significance in tissue repair. SILAC proteomics identified mitochondrial dysfunction as the top pathway responsive to pyocyanin exposure in human keratinocytes. Consistently, functional studies demonstrated mitochondrial stress, depletion of reducing equivalents, and ATP. Strikingly, despite all the above, pyocyanin markedly accelerated keratinocyte migration. Investigation of underlying mechanisms revealed a new function of KRT6A in keratinocytes. KRT6A was pyocyanin inducible and accelerated closure of epithelial defect. Acceleration of closure was associated with poor quality healing including compromised expression of apical junction proteins. This work recognizes KRT6A for its role of enhancing keratinocyte migration under conditions of threat posed by pyocyanin. Qualitatively deficient junctional proteins under conditions of defensive acceleration of keratinocyte migration explains why an infected wound close with deficient skin barrier function as previously reported.
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    Driving adult tissue repair via re-engagement of a pathway required for fetal healing
    (Elsevier, 2023) Ghatak, Subhadip; Khanna, Savita; Roy, Sashwati; Thirunavukkarasu, Mahesh; Pradeep, Seetur R.; Wulff, Brian C.; El Masry, Mohamed S.; Sharma, Anu; Palakurti, Ravichand; Ghosh, Nandini; Xuan, Yi; Wilgus, Traci A.; Maulik, Nilanjana; Yoder, Mervin C.; Sen, Chandan K.; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Fetal cutaneous wound closure and repair differ from that in adulthood. In this work, we identify an oxidant stress sensor protein, nonselenocysteine-containing phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase (NPGPx), that is abundantly expressed in normal fetal epidermis (and required for fetal wound closure), though not in adult epidermis, but is variably re-induced upon adult tissue wounding. NPGPx is a direct target of the miR-29 family. Following injury, abundance of miR-29 is lowered, permitting a prompt increase in NPGPx transcripts and protein expression in adult wound-edge tissue. NPGPx expression was required to mediate increased keratinocyte migration induced by miR-29 inhibition in vitro and in vivo. Increased NPGPx expression induced increased SOX2 expression and β-catenin nuclear localization in keratinocytes. Augmenting physiologic NPGPx expression via experimentally induced miR-29 suppression, using cutaneous tissue nanotransfection or targeted lipid nanoparticle delivery of anti-sense oligonucleotides, proved to be sufficient to overcome the deleterious effects of diabetes on this specific pathway to enhance tissue repair.
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    Exosome-Mediated Crosstalk between Keratinocytes and Macrophages in Cutaneous Wound Healing
    (ACS, 2020-09) Zhou, Xiaoju; Brown, Brooke A.; Siegel, Amanda P.; El Masry, Mohamed S.; Zeng, Xuyao; Song, Woran; Das, Amitava; Khandelwal, Puneet; Clark, Andrew; Singh, Kanhaiya; Guda, Poornachander R.; Gorain, Mahadeo; Timsina, Lava; Xuan, Yi; Jacobson, Stephen C.; Novotny, Milos V.; Roy, Sashwati; Agarwal, Mangilal; Lee, Robert J.; Sen, Chandan K.; Clemmer, David E.; Ghatak, Subhadip; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Bidirectional cell–cell communication involving exosome-borne cargo such as miRNA has emerged as a critical mechanism for wound healing. Unlike other shedding vesicles, exosomes selectively package miRNA by SUMOylation of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteinA2B1 (hnRNPA2B1). In this work, we elucidate the significance of exosome in keratinocyte–macrophage crosstalk following injury. Keratinocyte-derived exosomes were genetically labeled with GFP-reporter (Exoκ-GFP) using tissue nanotransfection (TNT), and they were isolated from dorsal murine skin and wound-edge tissue by affinity selection using magnetic beads. Surface N-glycans of Exoκ-GFP were also characterized. Unlike skin exosome, wound-edge Exoκ-GFP demonstrated characteristic N-glycan ions with abundance of low-base-pair RNA and was selectively engulfed by wound macrophages (ωmϕ) in granulation tissue. In vitro addition of wound-edge Exoκ-GFP to proinflammatory ωmϕ resulted in conversion to a proresolution phenotype. To selectively inhibit miRNA packaging within Exoκ-GFPin vivo, pH-responsive keratinocyte-targeted siRNA-hnRNPA2B1 functionalized lipid nanoparticles (TLNPκ) were designed with 94.3% encapsulation efficiency. Application of TLNPκ/si-hnRNPA2B1 to the murine dorsal wound-edge significantly inhibited expression of hnRNPA2B1 by 80% in epidermis compared to the TLNPκ/si-control group. Although no significant difference in wound closure or re-epithelialization was observed, the TLNPκ/si-hnRNPA2B1 treated group showed a significant increase in ωmϕ displaying proinflammatory markers in the granulation tissue at day 10 post-wounding compared to the TLNPκ/si-control group. Furthermore, TLNPκ/si-hnRNPA2B1 treated mice showed impaired barrier function with diminished expression of epithelial junctional proteins, lending credence to the notion that unresolved inflammation results in leaky skin. This work provides insight wherein Exoκ-GFP is recognized as a major contributor that regulates macrophage trafficking and epithelial barrier properties postinjury.
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    Filamentous bacteriophage delays healing of Pseudomonas-infected wounds
    (Elsevier, 2022) Bach, Michelle S.; de Vries, Christiaan R.; Khosravi, Arya; Sweere, Johanna M.; Popescu, Medeea C.; Chen, Qingquan; Demirdjian, Sally; Hargil, Aviv; Van Belleghem, Jonas D.; Kaber, Gernot; Hajfathalian, Maryam; Burgener, Elizabeth B.; Liu, Dan; Tran, Quynh-Lam; Dharmaraj, Tejas; Birukova, Maria; Sunkari, Vivekananda; Balaji, Swathi; Ghosh, Nandini; Mathew-Steiner, Shomita S.; El Masry, Mohamed S.; Keswani, Sundeep G.; Banaei, Niaz; Nedelec, Laurence; Sen, Chandan K.; Chandra, Venita; Secor, Patrick R.; Suh, Gina A.; Bollyky, Paul L.; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Chronic wounds infected by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) are characterized by disease progression and increased mortality. We reveal Pf, a bacteriophage produced by Pa that delays healing of chronically infected wounds in human subjects and animal models of disease. Interestingly, impairment of wound closure by Pf is independent of its effects on Pa pathogenesis. Rather, Pf impedes keratinocyte migration, which is essential for wound healing, through direct inhibition of CXCL1 signaling. In support of these findings, a prospective cohort study of 36 human patients with chronic Pa wound infections reveals that wounds infected with Pf-positive strains of Pa are more likely to progress in size compared with wounds infected with Pf-negative strains. Together, these data implicate Pf phage in the delayed wound healing associated with Pa infection through direct manipulation of mammalian cells. These findings suggest Pf may have potential as a biomarker and therapeutic target in chronic wounds.
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    High resolution ultrasound imaging for repeated measure of wound tissue morphometry, biomechanics and hemodynamics under fetal, adult and diabetic conditions
    (PLOS, 2020-11-23) Gnyawali, Surya C.; Sinha, Mithun; El Masry, Mohamed S.; Wulff, Brian; Ghatak, Subhadip; Soto-Gonzalez, Fidel; Wilgus, Traci A.; Roy, Sashwati; Sen, Chandan K.; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Non-invasive, repeated interrogation of the same wound is necessary to understand the tissue repair continuum. In this work, we sought to test the significance of non-invasive high-frequency high-resolution ultrasound technology for such interrogation. High-frequency high-resolution ultrasound imaging was employed to investigate wound healing under fetal and adult conditions. Quantitative tissue cellularity and elastic strain was obtained for visualization of unresolved inflammation using Vevo strain software. Hemodynamic properties of the blood flow in the artery supplying the wound-site were studied using color Doppler flow imaging. Non-invasive monitoring of fetal and adult wound healing provided unprecedented biomechanical and functional insight. Fetal wounds showed highly accelerated closure with transient perturbation of wound tissue cellularity. Fetal hemodynamics was unique in that sharp fall in arterial pulse pressure (APP) which was rapidly restored within 48h post-wounding. In adults, APP transiently increased post-wounding before returning to the pre-wounding levels by d10 post-wounding. The pattern of change in the elasticity of wound-edge tissue of diabetics was strikingly different. Severe strain acquired during the early inflammatory phase persisted with a slower recovery of elasticity compared to that of the non-diabetic group. Wound bed of adult diabetic mice (db/db) showed persistent hypercellularity compared to littermate controls (db/+) indicative of prolonged inflammation. Normal skin strain of db/+ and db/db were asynchronous. In db/db, severe strain acquired during the early inflammatory phase persisted with a slower recovery of elasticity compared to that of non-diabetics. This study showcases a versatile clinically relevant imaging platform suitable for real-time analyses of functional wound healing.
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    Identification of a physiologic vasculogenic fibroblast state to achieve tissue repair
    (Springer Nature, 2023-02-28) Pal, Durba; Ghatak, Subhadip; Singh, Kanhaiya; Abouhashem, Ahmed Safwat; Kumar, Manishekhar; El Masry, Mohamed S.; Mohanty, Sujit K.; Palakurti, Ravichand; Rustagi, Yashika; Tabasum, Saba; Khona, Dolly K.; Khanna, Savita; Kacar, Sedat; Srivastava, Rajneesh; Bhasme, Pramod; Verma, Sumit S.; Hernandez, Edward; Sharma, Anu; Reese, Diamond; Verma, Priyanka; Ghosh, Nandini; Gorain, Mahadeo; Wan, Jun; Liu, Sheng; Liu, Yunlong; Castro, Natalia Higuita; Gnyawali, Surya C.; Lawrence, William; Moore, Jordan; Perez, Daniel Gallego; Roy, Sashwati; Yoder, Mervin C.; Sen, Chandan K.; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Tissue injury to skin diminishes miR-200b in dermal fibroblasts. Fibroblasts are widely reported to directly reprogram into endothelial-like cells and we hypothesized that miR-200b inhibition may cause such changes. We transfected human dermal fibroblasts with anti-miR-200b oligonucleotide, then using single cell RNA sequencing, identified emergence of a vasculogenic subset with a distinct fibroblast transcriptome and demonstrated blood vessel forming function in vivo. Anti-miR-200b delivery to murine injury sites likewise enhanced tissue perfusion, wound closure, and vasculogenic fibroblast contribution to perfused vessels in a FLI1 dependent manner. Vasculogenic fibroblast subset emergence was blunted in delayed healing wounds of diabetic animals but, topical tissue nanotransfection of a single anti-miR-200b oligonucleotide was sufficient to restore FLI1 expression, vasculogenic fibroblast emergence, tissue perfusion, and wound healing. Augmenting a physiologic tissue injury adaptive response mechanism that produces a vasculogenic fibroblast state change opens new avenues for therapeutic tissue vascularization of ischemic wounds.
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    Myogenic tissue nanotransfection improves muscle torque recovery following volumetric muscle loss
    (Nature, 2022) Clark, Andrew; Ghatak, Subhadip; Guda, Poornachander Reddy; El Masry, Mohamed S.; Xuan, Yi; Sato, Amy Y.; Bellido, Teresita; Sen, Chandan K.; Surgery, School of Medicine
    This work rests on our non-viral tissue nanotransfection (TNT) platform to deliver MyoD (TNT) to injured tissue in vivo. TNT was performed on skin and successfully induced expression of myogenic factors. TNT was then used as a therapy 7 days following volumetric muscle loss (VML) of rat tibialis anterior and rescued muscle function. TNT is promising as VML intervention.
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    Robust critical limb ischemia porcine model involving skeletal muscle necrosis
    (Springer Nature, 2023-07-18) El Masry, Mohamed S.; Gnyawali, Surya C.; Sen, Chandan K.; Surgery, School of Medicine
    This work sought to develop a robust and clinically relevant swine model of critical limb ischemia (CLI) involving the onset of ischemic muscle necrosis. CLI carries about 25-40% risk of major amputation with 20% annual mortality. Currently, there is no specific treatment that targets the ischemic myopathy characteristic of CLI. Current swine models of CLI, with tolerable side-effects, fail to achieve sustained ischemia followed by a necrotic myopathic endpoint. Such limitation in experimental model hinders development of effective interventions. CLI was induced unilaterally by ligation-excision of one inch of the common femoral artery (CFA) via infra-inguinal minimal incision in female Yorkshire pigs (n = 5). X-ray arteriography was done pre- and post-CFA transection to validate successful induction of severe ischemia. Weekly assessment of the sequalae of ischemia on limb perfusion, and degree of ischemic myopathy was conducted for 1 month using X-ray arteriography, laser speckle imaging, CTA angiography, femoral artery duplex, high resolution ultrasound and histopathological analysis. The non-invasive tissue analysis of the elastography images showed specific and characteristic pattern of increased muscle stiffness indicative of the fibrotic and necrotic outcome expected with associated total muscle ischemia. The prominent onset of skeletal muscle necrosis was evident upon direct inspection of the affected tissues. Ischemic myopathic changes associated with inflammatory infiltrates and deficient blood vessels were objectively validated. A translational model of severe hindlimb ischemia causing ischemic myopathy was successfully established adopting an approach that enables long-term survival studies in compliance with regulatory requirements pertaining to animal welfare.
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    Stabilized collagen matrix dressing improves wound macrophage function and epithelialization
    (Federation of American Society of Experimental Biology, 2019-02) El Masry, Mohamed S.; Chaffee, Scott; Das Ghatak, Piya; Mathew-Steiner, Shomita S.; Das, Amitava; Higuita-Castro, Natalia; Roy, Sashwati; Anani, Raafat A.; Sen, Chandan K.; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Decellularized matrices of biologic tissue have performed well as wound care dressings. Extracellular matrix–based dressings are subject to rapid degradation by excessive protease activity at the wound environment. Stabilized, acellular, equine pericardial collagen matrix (sPCM) wound care dressing is flexible cross-linked proteolytic enzyme degradation resistant. sPCM was structurally characterized utilizing scanning electron and atomic force microscopy. In murine excisional wounds, sPCM was effective in mounting an acute inflammatory response. Postwound inflammation resolved rapidly, as indicated by elevated levels of IL-10, arginase-1, and VEGF, and lowering of IL-1β and TNF-α. sPCM induced antimicrobial proteins S100A9 and β-defensin-1 in keratinocytes. Adherence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus on sPCM pre-exposed to host immune cells in vivo was inhibited. Excisional wounds dressed with sPCM showed complete closure at d 14, while control wounds remained open. sPCM accelerated wound re-epithelialization. sPCM not only accelerated wound closure but also improved the quality of healing by increased collagen deposition and maturation. Thus, sPCM is capable of presenting scaffold functionality during the course of wound healing. In addition to inducing endogenous antimicrobial defense systems, the dressing itself has properties that minimize biofilm formation. It mounts robust inflammation, a process that rapidly resolves, making way for wound healing to advance.—El Masry, M. S., Chaffee, S., Das Ghatak, P., Mathew-Steiner, S. S., Das, A., Higuita-Castro, N., Roy, S., Anani, R. A., Sen, C. K. Stabilized collagen matrix dressing improves wound macrophage function and epithelialization.
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    Vasculogenic skin reprogramming requires TET-mediated gene demethylation in fibroblasts for rescuing impaired perfusion in diabetes
    (Springer Nature, 2024-11-27) Mohanty, Sujit K.; Singh, Kanhaiya; Kumar, Manishekhar; Verma, Sumit S.; Srivastava, Rajneesh; Gnyawali, Surya C.; Palakurti, Ravichand; Sahi, Ajay K.; El Masry, Mohamed S.; Banerjee, Pradipta; Kacar, Sedat; Rustagi, Yashika; Verma, Priyanka; Ghatak, Subhadip; Hernandez, Edward; Rubin, J. Peter; Khanna, Savita; Roy, Sashwati; Yoder, Mervin C.; Sen, Chandan K.; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Tissue nanotransfection (TNT) topically delivers Etv2, Foxc2, and Fli1 (EFF) plasmids increasing vasculogenic fibroblasts (VF) and promoting vascularization in ischemic murine skin. Human dermal fibroblasts respond to EFF nanoelectroporation with elevated expression of endothelial genes in vitro, which is linked to increased ten-eleven translocase 1/2/3 (TET) expression. Single cell RNA sequencing dependent validation of VF induction reveals a TET-dependent transcript signature. TNTEFF also induces TET expression in vivo, and fibroblast-specific EFF overexpression leads to VF-transition, with TET-activation correlating with higher 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) levels in VF. VF emergence requires TET-dependent demethylation of endothelial genes in vivo, enhancing VF abundance and restoring perfusion in diabetic ischemic limbs. TNTEFF improves perfusion and wound closure in diabetic mice, while increasing VF in cultured human skin explants. Suppressed in diabetes, TET1/2/3 play a critical role in TNT-mediated VF formation which supports de novo blood vessel development to rescue diabetic ischemic tissue.