Diabetes mellitus is a chronic condition resulting from insufficient β-cell mass, which leads to improper glycemia regulation. Research efforts have focused on expanding islets and β-cells in vitro for use in cell-based therapies to cure diabetes. Collagens are triple-helix extracellular matrix proteins with widespread expression in mammals. With multiple functions, collagen can provide structu...

The collagens of bovine vitreous-humour and nasal-septum cartilage have been extracted, fractionated and compared. Both tissues show the same heterogeneity of collagen types, consisting of type II, 1 alpha, 2 alpha, 3 alpha and C-PS collagens. The type II collagen of the vitreous humour was significantly more hydroxylated both in the lysine and proline residues than was that of cartilage. C-PS1...

The aggregation of platelets induced by collagens is considered an important step in primary hemostasis. Glycoprotein (GP) IIIb (GPIIIb, GPIV, CD36) has been proposed as a blood platelet receptor for collagen. Platelets from three healthy blood donors were shown to be clearly deficient in GPIIIb. These platelets aggregated normally in response to type I and III collagens. In addition, platelet ...

Chlamydia pneumoniae infection has been associated with chronic obstructive airway disease (COPD), asthma, and atherosclerosis. Inflammation and airway remodeling in asthma and COPD result in subepithelial fibrosis that is characterized by the deposition of interstitial collagens and fibronectin. The progression of atherosclerosis is also accompanied by an increased production of interstitial c...