Stefano Papa

Stefano Papa
University of Urbino | UNIURB · Department of Biomolecular Science

Full Professor

About

298
Publications
46,743
Reads
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8,214
Citations
Additional affiliations
April 1986 - December 2012
University of Urbino
Position
  • Professor (Full)
October 1983 - November 1983
Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute
Position
  • Research Associate
January 1981 - April 1984
CNR Istituto di Citomorfologia Normale e Patologica
Position
  • Researcher

Publications

Publications (298)
Article
Full-text available
In an era when ecological and environmental needs and responsibilities apply pressure on the world’s countries and sustainability takes centre stage, ecologic/environmental (E/E) laboratories stand as beacons of scientific inquiry, innovating, optimising, and applying various tests for a better knowledge of our natural resources and the quality sta...
Chapter
The advancement of novel drug delivery systems (DDSs) represents a great tool to improve the outcome of cancer patients. DDSs, such as polymeric and dendrimeric conjugates, nanoparticles (NPs), microparticles, liposomes, extracellular vesicles (EVs), and many others, have been established to overcome the current anticancer treatment limitations due...
Article
Full-text available
The food industry progressively requires innovative and environmentally safe packaging materials with increased physical, mechanical, and barrier properties. Due to its unique properties, cellulose has several potential applications in the food industry as a packaging material, stabilizing agent, and functional food ingredient. A coffee pod is a fi...
Article
Full-text available
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are promising natural nanocarriers for the delivery of therapeutic agents. As with any other kind of cell, red blood cells (RBCs) produce a limited number of EVs under physiological and pathological conditions. Thus, RBC-derived extracellular vesicles (RBCEVs) have been recently suggested as next-generation delivery sys...
Article
Full-text available
The 24‐h ultramarathon (UM) race is one of the most demanding competitive sports in terms of muscular and physiological exertion. In this context, predictors of UM athletes' physical performance are in high demand; however, data on the predictive capabilities of hematological variables are still sparse. In the present paper, we retrospectively took...
Article
Full-text available
Promoting neural cell proliferation may represent an important strategy for enhancing brain repair after developmental brain injury. The present study aimed to assess the effects of melatonin on cell proliferation after an ischemic injury in the developing hippocampus, focusing on cell cycle dynamics. After in vivo neonatal hypoxia–ischemia (HI), h...
Article
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Several studies have reported the high bioindication capacity of Isopoda (Crustacea, Oniscidea), which is related to their important ability to accumulate contaminants, usefulness in soil ecotoxicology and bioindication activities. Any change in the isopod population, diversity and life cycle can indicate relevant pollution levels. The analysis of...
Preprint
Full-text available
Several studies report the high capacity of bioindication of Isopoda (Crustacea, Oniscidea), related to their important ability to accumulate contaminants, useful in soil ecotoxicology and in bioindication activities. Any change in the Isopods population, diversity, and life cycle can indicate relevant pollution levels. The analysis of target tissu...
Article
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Nowadays, the adoption of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) techniques is undergoing an impressive increase. In light of this, one of the most promising strategies is the novel use of non-physiological materials and naturally derived compounds for advanced sperm preparation methods. Here, sperm cells were exposed during capacitation to MoS 2 /Catechin n...
Article
Monocytes are innate immune system key players with pivotal roles during infection and inflammation. They migrate into tissues and differentiate into myeloid effect cells (macrophages, dendritic cells) which orchestrate inflammatory processes and are interfaces between the innate and adaptive immune responses. Their clinical relevance to health and...
Article
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The article is divided into several sections, focusing on extracellular vesicles’ (EVs) nature, features, commonly employed methodologies and strategies for their isolation/preparation, and their characterization/visualization. This work aims to give an overview of advances in EVs’ extensive nanomedical-drug delivery applications. Furthermore, cons...
Article
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Cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) is produced by a range of Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria such as Campylobacter jejuni. CDT represents an important virulence factor that is a heterotrimeric complex composed of CdtA, CdtB, and CdtC. CdtA and CdtC constitute regulatory subunits whilst CdtB acts as the catalytic subunit exhibiting phosphatase and...
Article
Developing targeted drug delivery systems is an urgent need to decrease the side effects and increase the drug's efficiency. Most cancer cells show an increased sugar consumption compared to healthy cells due to the deregulation of sugar transporters. Consequently, liposomes, as a biocompatible nanocarrier, could be surface decorated by sugars to e...
Article
Full-text available
The first step to obtain a cellular suspension from tissues is the disaggregation procedure. The cell suspension method has to provide a representative sample of the different cellular subpopulations and to maximize the number of viable functional cells. Here, we analyzed specific cell functions in cell suspensions from several rat tissues obtained...
Article
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Fluorescent silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) appear to be a promising imaging platform, showing a specific subcellular localization. In the present study, we first investigated their preferential mitochondrial targeting in myeloid cells, by flow cytometry, confocal microscopy and TEM on both cells and isolated mitochondria, to acquire knowledge in imag...
Article
The activity and interacting ability of a polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer modified with 4- N -methylpiperazine-1,8-naphthalimide units (termed D) and complexed by Cu( ii ) ions, towards healthy and cancer cells were studied. Comparative electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies of the Cu( ii )-D complex are presented: coordination mode, chemic...
Article
The biochemical mechanisms by which the antiviral drug Acyclovir (ACV) may induce anticancer effects even without detecting human herpesviruses (HHVs) are still poorly understood. Herein, we investigated for the first time how NCI-H1975 non-small cell lung cancer cells responded in vitro to ACV administration by exploring mitochondrial damage and a...
Article
The fluorescent probes represent an important tool in the biological study, in fact characterization of cellular structures and organelles are an important tool-target for understanding the mechanisms regulating most biological processes. Recently, a series of polyamino-macrocycles based on 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane was synthesized, bearing on...
Article
Full-text available
Mitochondrial dysfunction is considered one of the hallmarks of ischemia/reperfusion injury. Mitochondria are plastic organelles that undergo continuous biogenesis, fusion and fission. They can be transferred between cells through tunneling nanotubes (TNTs), dynamic structures that allow the exchange of proteins, soluble molecules and organelles. M...
Article
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Introduction: Since most biologically active macromolecules are natural nanostructures, operating in the same scale of biomolecules gives the great advantage to enhance the interaction with cellular components. Noteworthy efforts in nanotechnology, particularly in biomedical and pharmaceutical fields, have propelled a high number of studies on the...
Article
Background We previously demonstrated how mouse spermatozoa can be efficiently stored for two years in a –80°C freezer, maintaining their ability to fertilize mouse eggs. Objectives The main objective here was to evaluate the effects of five years at –80°C compared to liquid nitrogen storage (LN2, control condition) on mouse spermatozoa viability,...
Article
Full-text available
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a crucial role in the intercellular crosstalk. Mesenchymal stem cell-derived EVs (MSC-EVs), displaying promising therapeutic roles, contribute to the strong rationale for developing EVs as an alternative therapeutic option. EV analysis still represents one of the major issues to be solved in order to translate the...
Article
Full-text available
The burden of neoplastic diseases is widely recognized as a severe cause of mortality. The clinical inadequacy of most anticancer therapeutics urgently prompted intense drug discovery efforts toward the identification of new chemical entities endowed with a potent and safe antitumor profile. In this scenario, targeting cancer cells apoptosis machin...
Article
Copper(II) carbosilane metallodendrimers are promising nanosized anticancer metallodrugs. The precise control on their design enables an accurate structure-to-activity study. We hypothesized that different structural features, such as the dendrimer generation and metal counterion, modulate the interaction with tumor cells, and subsequently the effe...
Article
Full-text available
Bivalves are widespread in coastal environments subjected to a wide range of environmental fluctuations: however, the rapidly occurring changes due to several anthropogenic factors can represent a significant threat to bivalve immunity. The mussel Mytilus spp. has extremely powerful immune defenses toward different potential pathogens and contamina...
Article
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Heavy metals are one of the most hazardous pollutants in marine environments because of their bioaccumulation and biomagnification capabilities. Among them, cadmium (Cd) has been considered as one of the most dangerous for marine organisms. Here we incubated Ammonia cf. parkinsoniana specimens, a benthic foraminiferal taxon used in previous experim...
Article
Full-text available
The Gram-negative Campylobacter jejuni is a major cause of foodborne gastroenteritis in humans worldwide. The cytotoxic effects of Campylobacter have been mainly ascribed to the actions of the cytolethal distending toxin (CDT): it is mandatory to put in evidence risk factors for sequela development, such as reactive arthritis (ReA) and Guillain-Bar...
Article
Full-text available
The NK cell population is characterized by distinct NK cell subsets that respond differently to the various activating stimuli. For this reason, the determination of the optimal cytotoxic activation of the different NK cell subsets can be a crucial aspect to be exploited to counter cancer cells in oncologic patients. To evaluate how the triggering...
Preprint
Full-text available
NK population is characterized by distinct NK cell subsets which respond differently to the various activating stimuli. For this reason, the determination of the optimal cytotoxic activation of the different NK subsets can be a crucial aspect to be exploited to counter cancer cells in oncologic patients. To evaluate how the triggering of different...
Article
Full-text available
Microscopy techniques have been widely applied to observe cellular ultrastructure. Most of these techniques, such as transmission electron microscopy, produce high‐resolution images, but they may require extensive preparation, hampering their application for in vivo examination. Other approaches, such as fluorescent and fluorogenic probes, can be a...
Article
Objectives Autophagy is a physiological and highly regulated mechanism, crucial for cell homeostasis maintenance. Its impairment seems to be involved in the onset of several diseases, including muscular dystrophies, myopathies and sarcopenia. According to few papers, chemotherapeutic drug treatment is able to trigger side effects on skeletal muscle...
Article
Oxysterols, oxidized derivatives of cholesterol found in LDL and atherosclerotic plaques, trigger several biological responses involved in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. Endothelial dysfunction, which occurs when vascular homeostasis is altered, plays a key role in the pathogenesis of several metabolic diseases. The contribution...
Article
Aims and methods: Many antiviral agents have been reported to present direct cytotoxic activity in cancer, showing antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects through different mechanisms. In the present study, we took into account the cytotoxic action of the antiviral drug acyclovir (ACV) on leukemia cells, by investigating cell cycle perturbation...
Article
Full-text available
Neurons contain a high number of mitochondria, these neuronal cells produce elevated levels of oxidative stress and live for a long time without proliferation; therefore, mitochondrial homeostasis is crucial to their health. Investigations have recently focused on mitochondrial dynamics revealing the ability of these organelles to change their dist...
Data
Expression of pDRP1. Cells were incubated with two different concentrations of MEL (200 and 500 μM) for 24 h before serum deprivation. The relative amount of pDRP1 proteins was quantified by densitometric analysis. Western blot analyses was carried out on three individual sample for each experimental condition; **P < 0.01 vs control, #P < 0.05 and...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Microscopy techniques have been widely applied to observe foraminiferal ultrastructures. Most of these techniques such as transmission electronic microscopy allow obtaining high-resolution images, though they require an extensive preparation of samples potentially hampering their application and limit “in vivo” examination. Fluorescent and fluoroge...
Article
Full-text available
Campylobacter jejuni is a Gram-negative spiral-shaped bacterium, commonly associated with gastroenteritis in humans. It explicates its virulence also by the cytolethal distending toxin (CDT), able to cause irreversible cell cycle arrest. Infection by C. jejuni may result in the development of the Guillain⁻Barré Syndrome, an acute peripheral neuropa...
Conference Paper
The Gram-negative bacterium Campylobacter jejuni interacts with, invades and survives within human intestinal epithelial cells (IECs). The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a critical organelle involved in multiple physiological functions, yet the extent of how C. jejuni interacts with the ER remains unknown. Our study has shown that C. jejuni interact...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Introduction: A large set of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) specific for leukocyte differentiation molecules in cattle were screened and shown to identify conserved epitopes on orthologous molecules in water buffalo. This has provided an opportunity to characterize the immune system of buffalo, an important species in the livestock industry. The obje...
Article
Full-text available
Oxysterols are bioactive lipids that act as regulators of lipid metabolism, inflammation, cell viability and are involved in several diseases, including atherosclerosis. Mounting evidence linked the atherosclerosis to endothelium dysfunction; in fact, the endothelium regulates the vascular system with roles in processes such as hemostasis, cell cho...
Article
Poly(propyleneimine) glycodendrimers fully modified with maltose units were administered to different cancer cell lines and their effect on cell viability was evaluated by using MTS assay and flow cytometry. The mechanism of dendrimer-cell interactions was investigated by the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) technique by using a new nitroxide-...
Article
Full-text available
Niemann-Pick disease type A (NP-A) and type B (NP-B) are lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs) caused by sphingomyelin accumulation in lysosomes relying on reduced or absent acid sphingomyelinase. A considerable body of evidence suggests that lysosomal storage in many LSD impairs autophagy, resulting in the accumulation of poly-ubiquitinated proteins a...
Data
Cytometric analyses of mitochondrial and lysosomal compartments. (A) Statistical histogram of MFI variation of MitoTracker Green (MTG) in tWT and tNP cells for each experimental condition. Each value is expressed as a mean ± SD (Results from n ≥ 3 independent experiments). The difference between cell lines was significant as shown by two-way ANOVA...
Data
Autophagic vacuoles, autophagosomes and endolysosomal compartment analyses. (A) Cytometric histograms relative to AO FL3 Mean Intensity Fluorescence (MFI) of all experimental conditions. (B) Statistical histogram of MFI expression LAMP-1/CD107a in tWT and tNP cells. Mean values were converted to arbitrary units (A.U.) setting control of wild-type c...
Article
Context/objective: Increased oxidative stress in adipose tissue (AT) emerges as an inducer of obesity-linked insulin resistance. Here we tested the hypothesis whether free-radical derived oxysterols are formed by, and accumulate in, human adipocytes. Moreover, we asked whether increased accumulation of oxysterols characterizes the adipose cells of...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
CD56bright NK cells have been proposed to represent either a mature NK cell subpopulation or an immature stage of the CD56dim NK subset. However, also unlicensed CD56dim/CD16bright NK cells have been described as an immature stage of NK cells. Considered that CD56bright/CD16dim-neg NK cells are virtually all licensed by CD94-NKG2A expression, it is...
Preprint
Full-text available
CD56bright NK cells have been proposed to represent either a mature NK cell subpopulation or an immature stage of the CD56dim NK subset. However, also unlicensed CD56dim/CD16bright NK cells have been described as an immature stage of NK cells. Considered that CD56bright/CD16dim-neg NK cells are virtually all licensed by CD94-NKG2A expression, it is...
Article
Full-text available
Heavy metals such as mercury (Hg) pose a significant health hazard through bioaccumulation and biomagnification. By penetrating cell membranes, heavy metal ions may lead to pathological conditions. Here we examined the responses of Ammonia parkinsoniana, a benthic foraminiferan, to different concentrations of Hg in the artificial sea water. Confoca...
Data
Mann-Whitney U Test for differences lipid dimension. Significant differences are marked in bold. (XLS)
Data
Typical paired NR confocal images. (A) Bright Field image. (B) Neutral lipids (triglycerides, esters of cholesterol and free fatty acids) in yellow. (C) Polar lipids (phospholipids, sphingolipids and non-esterified cholesterol) in red. (D) Merged Bright Field, yellow and red channels. (TIF)
Article
Full-text available
Creatine (Cr) is a nutritional supplement promoting a number of health benefits. Indeed Cr has been shown to be beneficial in disease-induced muscle atrophy, improve rehabilitation, and afford mild antioxidant activity. The beneficial effects are likely to derive from pleiotropic interactions. In accord with this notion, we previously demonstrated...
Article
Full-text available
A growing body of scientific reports indicates that the role of creatine (Cr) in cellular biochemistry and physiology goes beyond its contribution to cell energy. Indeed Cr has been shown to exert multiple effects promoting a wide range of physiological responses in vitro as well as in vivo. Included in these, Cr promotes in vitro neuron and muscle...
Article
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Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) can interfere with pathogens through different mechanisms; one is the production of biosurfactants, a group of surface-active molecules, which inhibit the growth of potential pathogens. In the present study, biosurfactants produced by Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938, Lactobacillus acidophilus DDS-1, Lactobacillus rhamnosu...
Article
Full-text available
Cancer chemotherapy is characterized by an elevated intrinsic toxicity and the development of drug resistance. Thus, there is a compelling need for new intervention strategies with an improved therapeutic profile. Immunogenic cell death (ICD) represents an innovative anticancer strategy where dying cancer cells release damage-associated molecular p...
Article
Full-text available
It is known that, besides a wide range of functions, melatonin provides protection against oxidative stress, thanks to its ability to act, directly, as a free radical scavenger and, indirectly, by stimulating antioxidant enzymes production and mitochondrial electron transport chain efficiency. Oxidative stress is one of the major players in initiat...
Article
River waters are classified worldwide in relation to their chemical quality status, which is assessed by the presence of inorganic and organic pollutants. Meanwhile, microbiological quality evaluations are based mainly on the occurrence of pathogens and faecal contaminants, which are indirectly retrieved by standard cultivation methods. In this stu...
Article
Full-text available
The association of the pioneer organisms Streptococcus mutans ATCC 25175 or Streptococcus oralis ATCC 9811 with secondary colonizers Fusobacterium nucleatum ATCC 25586 or Porphyromonas gingivalis ATCC 33277 during biofilm development on titanium surfaces was evaluated by flow cytometry (FCM) using specific polyclonal antibodies. ELISA and FCM were...
Poster
Introduction: Campylobacter jejuni is the most common cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in humans, probably due to the production of a cytolethal distending toxin (CDT), delivered by outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) into host cells. The aim of this study is to investigate cellular effects of C. jejuni ATCC 33291 and C. jejuni ISS1 strains, positives...
Article
The contribution of flow cytometry to the diagnosis and follow-up of hematological neoplasms is of paramount importance and cannot be overstressed. Today, this relationship is not questioned and it is unlikely that the new molecular techniques will be able to replace it shortly. The reason of this long lasting success relies on the importance of ph...
Article
Full-text available
Although NK cells are considered part of the innate immune system, a series of evidences has demonstrated that they possess characteristics typical of the adaptive immune system. These NK adaptive features, in particular their memory-like functions, are discussed from an ontogenetic and evolutionary point of view.
Article
Background: Continuing growth in the incidence of leukemia suggests a possible environmental etiology correlated to the increase of environmental pollution. Recently, environmental particulate pollution (EPP) has been declared by IARC a Class I carcinogenic agent; it looks reasonable to presume that not only chemicals like benzene and its derivativ...
Article
Full-text available
La citometria a flusso è un metodo analitico consolidato in campo biomedico per la fenotipizzazione di linee cellulari in liquidi di origine biologica. L’utilizzo di questa tecnica si sta consolidando anche in campo ambientale, grazie a modifiche strumentali, sviluppi metodologici e specifici protocolli sperimentali che rendono la citometria a flus...
Article
Phenolic compounds, the biggest group of natural antioxidants, have attracted much attention due to their known and wide-ranging biological activities, as well as to their health effects. In particular, regardless their antioxidant activity, they play a key role in the control of several inflammation-associated processes as well as in improving ant...
Article
Polymeric nanoparticles can reach the marine environment from different sources as weathering of plastic debris and nanowaste. Nevertheless, few data are available on their fate and impact on marine biota. Polystyrene nanoparticles (PS NPs) can be considered as a model for studying the effects of nanoplastics in marine organisms: recent data on ami...
Article
Full-text available
In the past few years, skeletal muscle has emerged as an important secretory organ producing soluble factors, called myokines, that exert either autocrine, paracrine or endocrine effects. Moreover, recent studies have shown that muscle releases microRNAs into the bloodstream in response to physical exercise. These microRNAs affect target cells, suc...