Loredana Cantalupo

Publications (2)4.46 Total impact

• Article: Higher expression of BDNF receptor gp145trkB is associated with lower apoptosis intensity in T cell lines in multiple sclerosis.

  Lorenzo De Santi, Loredana Cantalupo, Maristella Tassi, Donatella Raspadori, Chiara Cioni, Pasquale Annunziata
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  ABSTRACT: Conflicting data exist on expression of gp145trkB, the high affinity receptor for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), on peripheral blood immunocompetent cells in multiple sclerosis (MS). We analyzed expression of gp145trkB by western blotting and flow cytometry in myelin basic protein (MBP)- and ovalbumin (OVA)-T cell lines prepared from 12 patients with relapsing-remitting MS and 12 normal healthy subjects (NHS) and correlated it with activation-induced apoptosis. We found a higher percentage of gp145trkB-expressing MBP-T cells in MS patients than in NHS (p=0.011). gp145trkB was mainly expressed by CD8(+) T cells to a higher extent in MS patients than in NHS (p=0.04). MBP-T cell lines from MS patients showed significantly lower apoptosis intensity than those from NHS (p=0.011). We found also a significant negative correlation between gp145trkB expression and apoptosis intensity in MS patients only (p=0.02). OVA-T cell lines showed a gp145trkB expression similar to that of MBP-T cell lines, with a higher expression in MS patients than NHS, and similar correlations with apoptosis intensity in MS. These findings suggest that gp145trkB is mainly expressed on T cell lines from MS patients and that the BDNF/gp145trkB axis is involved in the regulation of peripheral T cell apoptosis in MS.
  Journal of the Neurological Sciences 12/2008; 277(1-2):65-70. · 2.35 Impact Factor
• Article: Expression of preprotachykinin-A mRNA isoforms and substance P production in T lymphocytes of human healthy subjects.

  Loredana Cantalupo, Chiara Cioni, Pasquale Annunziata
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  ABSTRACT: The influence of sex and age on the expression pattern of preprotachykinin-A (PPT-A) mRNA isoforms encoding substance P and other tackykinins such as neurokinin A (NKA), neuropeptide K (NPK) and neuropeptide gamma (NPgamma) in human immunocompetent cells and the role of this pattern on SP production are unknown. To investigate these questions, we assessed PPT-A isoform expression and SP production in CD3+ lymphocytes of normal healthy subjects. There were no significant differences in PPT-A isoforms in relation to sex or age. The most frequently expressed isoforms were beta and gamma: after lymphocyte stimulation with phytohemagglutinin (PHA), there was a significant increase in their frequency (p<0.0001). Significantly higher SP levels were found in subjects expressing beta and gamma PPT-A than in those with beta PPT-A only (p=0.001). These findings provide evidence of a heterogeneous expression of PPT-A isoforms in CD3+ lymphocytes of normal healthy subjects.
  Neuroscience Letters 03/2008; 434(2):191-4. · 2.11 Impact Factor