Browsing by Author "Sharma, Pushpender Kumar"

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Progression of pre-rheumatoid arthritis to clinical disease of joints: Potential role of mesenchymal stem cells
(Elsevier Inc., 2023-03-28T00:00:00) Sardana, Yogesh; Bhatti, Gurjit Kaur; Singh, Charan; Sharma, Pushpender Kumar; Reddy, P. Hemachandra; Bhatti, Jasvinder Singh
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) related autoimmunity is developed at mucosal sites due to the interplay between genetic risk factors and environmental triggers. The pre-RA phase that leads to anti-citrullinated protein antibodies, rheumatoid factor, and other autoantibodies spread in the systemic circulation may not affect articular tissue for years until a mysterious second hit triggers the localization of RA-related autoimmunity in joints. Several players in the joint microenvironment mediate the synovial innate and adaptive immunological processes, eventually leading to clinical synovitis. There still exists a gap in the early phase of RA pathogenesis, i.e., the progression of diseases from the systemic circulation to joints. The lack of better understanding of these events results in the inability to answer questions about why only after a certain point of time the disease appears in joints and why in some cases, it simply remains latent and doesn't affect joints at all. In the current review, we focused on the immunomodulatory and regenerative role of mesenchymal stem cells and associated exosomes in RA pathology. We also highlighted the age-related dysregulations in activities of mesenchymal stem cells and how that might trigger homing of systemic autoimmunity to joints. � 2023 Elsevier Inc.
Recent advances in the omics-based assessment of microbial consortia in the plastisphere environment: Deciphering the dynamic role of hidden players
(Institution of Chemical Engineers, 2023-06-10T00:00:00) Malik, Naveen; Lakhawat, Sudarshan Singh; Kumar, Vikram; Sharma, Vinay; Bhatti, Jasvinder Singh; Sharma, Pushpender Kumar
Continuous disposal of plastic waste and its accretion in the environment is the biggest challenge the world has ever faced. Breaking its terrestrial bounds, plastic waste has now extended its outreach to aquatic territories including marine ecosystems. Photooxidation-mediated partial degradation converts plastic polymers to micrometric dimensions, thus augmenting their biomagnification in the food chains. Besides contaminating the food chains, microplastics also act as potential carriers of pollutants and pathogenic microbes. The slow and inefficient biodegradation of plastic by microorganisms in their natural habitats offers an opportunity to explore biotechnological interventions to overcome and mitigate the hazardous effects of plastic waste. Microorganisms utilize plastic polymer as a carbon source thus deriving energy from its oxidation and mineralization. The whole microbial consortium in the plastisphere interacts during the biodegradation process. The emergence of these novel plastic-dwelling microbial communities makes plastic degradation a very complex and finetuned process, where the expression of novel plastic-degrading genes and resultant pathways and interaction networks all contribute towards biodegradation. Thus, it is quite challenging to study such vast consortia of microbial communities by conventional approach to fully understand the degradation pattern of plastics. The techniques like shotgun metagenomics, transcriptomics and meta transcriptomics, next-generation amplicon sequencing, proteomics and metaproteomic, etc. have been successfully employed in recent years for identifying novel microbial species, gene pool, interactions network, and reaction pathways from different microbial consortia. Among several classes of bacteria, the Flavobacteriaceae, Rhodobacteriaceae, and Phycobactereaceae have shown their remarkable presence in different plastisphere. Omics approaches have also revealed high-level expression of plastic-degrading enzymes like esterases, depolymerases, hydrolases, and reductases. The applicability of these techniques in context to the studies of microbiota in the degradation of plastics is defined by their high accuracy, quickness, and sensitivity. The current review accentuates the significance of omics-based studies in identifying specific microbiota, dynamic gene pool, functional pathways, and metabolic networks of the plastisphere microbial consortia. � 2023 The Institution of Chemical Engineers
Targeting calcium homeostasis and impaired inter-organelle crosstalk as a potential therapeutic approach in Parkinson's disease
(Elsevier Inc., 2023-08-02T00:00:00) Kaur, Satinder; Sehrawat, Abhishek; Mastana, Sarabjit Singh; Kandimalla, Ramesh; Sharma, Pushpender Kumar; Bhatti, Gurjit Kaur; Bhatti, Jasvinder Singh
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, leading to motor symptoms such as tremors, rigidity, and bradykinesia. Current therapeutic strategies for PD are limited and mainly involve symptomatic relief, with no available treatment for the underlying causes of the disease. Therefore, there is a need for new therapeutic approaches that target the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of PD. Calcium homeostasis is an essential process for maintaining proper cellular function and survival, including neuronal cells. Calcium dysregulation is also observed in various organelles, including the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), mitochondria, and lysosomes, resulting in organelle dysfunction and impaired inter-organelle communication. The ER, as the primary calcium reservoir, is responsible for folding proteins and maintaining calcium homeostasis, and its dysregulation can lead to protein misfolding and neurodegeneration. The crosstalk between ER and mitochondrial calcium signaling is disrupted in PD, leading to neuronal dysfunction and death. In addition, a lethal network of calcium cytotoxicity utilizes mitochondria, ER and lysosome to destroy neurons. This review article focused on the complex role of calcium dysregulation and its role in aggravating functioning of organelles in PD so as to provide new insight into therapeutic strategies for treating this disease. Targeting dysfunctional organelles, such as the ER and mitochondria and lysosomes and whole network of calcium dyshomeostasis can restore proper calcium homeostasis and improve neuronal function. Additionally targeting calcium dyshomeostasis that arises from miscommunication between several organelles can be targeted so that therapeutic effects of calcium are realised in whole cellular territory. � 2023 Elsevier Inc.