The proof-of-principle of the integration of electrically heated carbon paste electrode with immunoassay as a potential alternative for ultrasensitive detection of cytokines was demonstrated.

The immune responses of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients undergoing lung resection surgery were investigated in order to understand the mechanism of strong immune suppression in MDR-TB. We examined changes in cell-mediated immune response (CMI) of a total of sixteen MDR-TB patients, three of them extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) patients, after ...

CXCL8, or interleukin-8, is a CXC chemokine that promotes neutrophil migration in response to inflammatory stimuli. In this study, we identified and analyzed a CXCL8 orthologue, SmCXCL8, from turbot (Scophthalmus maximus). The deduced amino acid sequence of SmCXCL8 is 99-residue in length and shares 52-83% overall identities with the lineage ...

Citation Peltier MR, Gurzenda EM, Murthy A, Chawala K, Lerner V, Kharode I, Arita Y, Rhodes A, Maari N, Moawad A, Hanna N. Can oxygen tension contribute to an abnormal placental cytokine milieu? Am J Reprod Immunol 2011; Objective  The aim of this study was to determine whether culturing human ...

A new positively charged fluorescent probe poly(p-phenylene vinylene) derivative (PPV-1) has been developed for the detection of an important biological process, apoptosis, in a simple and fluorescent label-free way.

Macrophage activation assisted by interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) is a primary mechanism by which Mycobacterium tuberculosis is killed, but IFN-γ (production is inhibited in tuberculosis (TB) patients. The production of IFN-γ is influenced by many factors, such as interleukin (IL)-10, IL-12, IL-18, and clinical diseases; but the relative importance of each factor ...

The role of CD16(-) and CD16(+) Mo subsets in human TB remains unknown. Our aim was to characterize Mo subsets from TB patients and to assess whether the inflammatory milieu from TB pleurisy modulate their phenotype and recruitment. We found an expansion of peripheral CD16(+) Mo that correlated with disease ...

OBJECTIVE: Human periodontal ligament fibroblasts (HPDLFs) play a crucial role in protecting against oral bacteria in periapical tissue. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD) are two major forms of innate immune sensors that recognize microbial pathogens and initiate pro-inflammatory signalling. Tumour necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6) is ...

INTRODUCTION: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by an inflammatory and systemic response that increases during exacerbations of the disease (ECOPD), although the mechanisms of this inflammatory process are not well known. OBJECTIVES: To explore the inflammatory changes and possible mechanisms during ECOPD. METHODS: We determined the inflammatory cell ...

INTRODUCTION: : Decoy receptor 3 (DcR3), a soluble receptor belonging to the TNF receptor superfamily, competitively binds and inhibits the TNF family including Fas-ligand (Fas-L), LIGHT, and TL1A. In this study, we investigated the functions of DcR3 on osteoarthritis (OA) chondrocytes. METHODS: : Expressions of DcR3 in chondrocytes were measured ...

Innate immune surveillance in the blood is executed mostly by circulating monocytes, which recognize conserved bacterial molecules such as peptidoglycan and lipopolysaccharide. Toll-like receptors (TLR) play a central role in microbe-associated molecular pattern detection. The aim of this study was to compare the differences in TLR expression and cytokine production ...

microRNAs have a critical role in regulating innate and adaptive immunity. To understand whether microRNAs play roles in regulating immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in humans, microRNA expression profiling was performed in PBMCs from pulmonary tuberculosis patients and healthy controls. Analysis of expression profiles showed that expression of 30 ...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of levocetrizine (LCEZ) on the intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) in human nasal epithelial cells stimulated by TLR3 and further analyze the anti-inflammatory mechanism of LCEZ in the MyD88-independent pathway before NF-κB is activated. METHODS: A primary culture of human nasal epithelial cells (HNECs) was ...

Objective To study the influence of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) on the biological function of SW620 cell. Methods Macrophage was induced into M2-type macrophage form with interleukin (IL)-4. CD68, macrophage mannose receptor (MMR), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) were analyzed with Western blot. SW620 was co-cultured with TAMs in the ...

Macrolide antibiotics are known to exert anti-inflammatory actions in vivo, including certain effects in COPD patients. In order to investigate the immunomodulatory profile of activity of macrolide antibiotics, we have studied the effects of azithromycin, clarithromycin, erythromycin and roxithromycin on the in vitro production of a panel of inflammatory mediators ...

Recent studies have reported that sealers may alter the secretion of specific cytokines from THP1 monocytic cells in vitro. In this study, a cytokine array was used to determine if endodontic sealers changed secretion of 42 cytokines. White mineral trioxide aggregate (WMTA), MTA preparation (CS), AH-Plus (AHP), and Pulp Canal ...

As one of the most potent and hazardous feed/food-originated mycotoxins, aflatoxin (AF) B(1) is regarded as a potent immunosuppressor in dairy cows. Neutrophils (PMN), as key effector cells against pathogens, have a high potential to kill engulfed microbes. To investigate the in vitro effects of very low doses of AFB(1) ...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of pulmonary TB, causes chronic intracellular infection of lung-resident antigen-presenting cells, including macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs). Life-long bacterial control requires robust T-cell immune responses. Lung DCs are critical for initiating and co-ordinating adaptive immune responses against TB. The recent description of previously uncharacterized DC ...

The Basic Protocol in this unit describes measurement of murine interferon (IFN)α/β by intracellular staining for these cytokines and detection by flow cytometry. Alternate protocols detail an enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) for IFNα and a biological assay to measure IFN. The FACS assay allows measurement of IFNα/β production by defined ...

The Mycobacterium bovis BCG vaccine is the only tuberculosis (TB) vaccine available, yet it provides limited protection against pulmonary TB in adults and fails to protect against TB reactivation. We hypothesized that immunity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis "resuscitation-promoting factors" (Rpfs), which are small bacterial proteins that promote proliferation of dormant mycobacteria, ...

The worldwide increase in the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB), especially multidrug-resistant TB and extensively drug-resistant TB, is an important global health concern, and new effective drugs are urgently needed. Information on the genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and various mycobacterial virulence genes is leading to the identification of genes that ...

Enamel matrix derivative (EMD) used to promote periodontal regeneration has been shown to exert anti-inflammatory effects. This in vitro study was performed to investigate if the anti-inflammatory actions of EMD are modulated by the local cellular environment, such as inflammation or occlusal, i.e., biomechanical, loading. Human periodontal ligament cells were ...

Few data are available on the kinetic of the airways' inflammation induced by inhaled endotoxin in a given subject. The purpose of this study was to evaluate in healthy subjects the time-related endotoxin-induced airways' inflammation. The cells counts from the induced-sputum were evaluated before, 6 and 24 h, and 7 days after ...

Cytokines are essential signaling molecules that mediate the innate immune response, and therefore their presence can be of diagnostic, prognostic, and pathogenic significance. Microsphere-based immunoassays allow rapid and accurate evaluation of cytokine levels in several species, including humans, dogs, and mice; however, technology to evaluate domestic cat (Felis catus) cytokines ...

OBJECTIVE:: To determine the presence, degree, and extent of lymphatic, elastic, and collagen fiber alterations in dermatochalasis (DC) specimens. DESIGN:: Case control study of patients with DC compared with age-, gender-, and site-matched controls. PARTICIPANTS:: A total of 25 eyelid specimens were studied; 15 of these were blepharoplasty specimens (experimental) ...

An immunomodulatory extract (AndoSan™) based on the medicinal mushroom Agaricus blazei Murill (AbM) has shown to reduce blood cytokine levels in healthy volunteers after 12 days' ingestion, pointing to an anti-inflammatory effect. The aim was to study whether AndoSan™ had similar effects on cytokines in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) ...

Neutrophil influx into the airways is an important mechanism in the pathophysiology of the inflammatory process in the airways of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Previously it was shown that anticholinergic drugs reduce the release of non-neuronal paracrine mediators, which modulate inflammation in the airways. On this basis, ...

Tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is one of the leading infectious disease causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Though current antibiotic regimens can cure the disease, treatment requires at least six months of drug therapy. One reason for the long duration of therapy is that the currently available ...

Small sputum macrophages represent highly active cells that increase in the airways of patients with inflammatory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It has been reported often that levels of cytokines, chemokines and pro-teases are increased in sputum supernatants of these patients. In COPD, the small sputum macrophages ...

Macrophages have been implicated in the pathogenesis of COPD. M1 and M2 macrophages constitute subpopulations displaying pro- and anti-inflammatory properties. We hypothesized that smoking cessation affects macrophage heterogeneity in the lung of patients with COPD. Our aim was to study macrophage heterogeneity using the M2-marker CD163 and selected pro- and ...

Eosinophilic airway inflammation has successfully been used to tailor anti-inflammatory therapy in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) by indirect challenges is associated with airway inflammation. We hypothesized that AHR to inhaled mannitol captures eosinophilia in induced sputum in COPD. Twenty-eight patients (age 58 ± 7.8 yr, packyears ...

Monocyte-derived macrophages contribute to atherosclerotic plaque formation. Therefore, manipulating macrophage function could have significant therapeutic value. The objective of this study was to determine transduction efficiency of two HIV-based lentiviral vector configurations as delivery systems for the transduction of primary human blood monocyte-derived macrophages. Human blood monocytes were transduced using ...

The Schirmer's test is commonly used in the clinic for the diagnosis of dry eye disease by measuring tear volume. This report describes a procedure which can be used to recover tears from the Schirmer strip for the measurement of multiple tear cytokines as well as matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) by ...

Antiapoptotic and antioxidant activities of aqueous-methanolic extract (CAME) of Orthosiphonstamineus Benth(OS), and its hexane (HF), chloroform (CF), n-butanol (NBF), ethyl acetate (EAF) and water (WF) fractions were investigated. Antioxidant properties were evaluated using the assays of Folin-Ciocalteu, aluminiumtrichloride, β-carotene bleaching and DPPH. The role of OS against hydrogen peroxide induced ...

In pig production, dietary additive antibiotics are usually used for growth stimulation and disease prevention, although there is public concern about the increased incidence of resistant antibiotics and food safety. It is possible that such antibiotics might be replaced by naturally derived products such as seaweed and licorice. In this ...

Tuberculosis (TB) is the cause of 2 million deaths each year, which is the second highest cause of mortality from a single infectious disease worldwide. Resistance of these organisms to drugs has emerged as an important health concern. Alternative approaches to the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis are therefore urgently ...

Cytokine [tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-4] and chemokine [regulated upon activation normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1] responses to selected early secreted antigenic target-6 (ESAT-6) and culture filtrate protein-10 (CFP-10) peptides were studied in healthy household contacts and patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). It was ...

gp130 is a common receptor chain for cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-27 and IL-6. During experimental tuberculosis (TB), IL-27 prevents optimal antimycobacterial protection and limits the pathological sequelae of chronic inflammation. The anti-inflammatory properties of IL-27 have been attributed mainly to its suppressive effect on T helper (TH) cells. However, ...

Oral viridans group streptococci are the major commensal bacteria of the supragingival oral biofilm and have been detected in human atheromatous plaque. Atherosclerosis involves an ongoing inflammatory response, reportedly involving chronic infection caused by multiple pathogens. The aim of this study was to examine the invasion of human aortic endothelial ...

COPD is characterized by chronic airflow limitation and inflammation of the respiratory tract. Several inflammatory biomarkers have been evaluated in COPD but are poorly related to disease severity and progression. Osteoprotegerin (OPG) is a glycoprotein mediator that is expressed in the lung and macrophages, so we have studied its concentration ...

The experimental studies of Brucei group trypanosomes presented here demonstrate that the balance of host and parasite factors, especially IFN-γ GPI-sVSG respectively, and the timing of cellular exposure to them, dictate the predominant MP and DC activation profiles present at any given time during infection and within specific tissues. The ...

The present study examined the functional profile of dendritic cells (DCs) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the effects of simvastatin on the function of DCs. A total of 40 patients who was recently diagnosed as having RA were equally assigned to two groups: the routine treatment group (group ...

Cite this as: J-L Malo, S. Cardinal, H. Ghezzo, J. L'Archevêque, L. Castellanos and K. Maghni, Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 2011 (41) 497-504. SUMMARY: Background Bronchial responsiveness and IgE-mediated reactivity are associated with specific bronchial reactivity to allergens. Objective Our aim was to examine whether airway inflammation also plays a ...

Calcium-sensing receptors (CaSR) are G-protein coupled receptors which maintain systemic calcium haemeostasis, participate in hormone secretion, activation of iron channel, cell apoptosis, proliferation and differentiation. Previous studies have show CaSR induce apoptosis in isolated rat adult heart and in normal rat neonatal cardiomyocytes by G-protein-PLC-IP(3) signaling transinduction. A few of ...

The surface of the schistosomula is an important target for host immune system attack because the tegument represents the interface between host and parasite and thus is a potential candidate for the development of new intervention strategies. In this study, we evaluated the ability of schistosomula tegument (Smteg) to induce ...

Most hosts are infected with multiple parasites, and responses of the immune system to co-occurring parasites may influence disease spread. Helminth infection can bias the host immune response toward a T-helper type 2 (Th2) over a type 1 (Th1) response, impairing the host’s ability to control concurrent intracellular microparasite infections ...

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) are a heterogeneous population of immature myeloid cells that share a common property of suppressing immune responses. Several helminth and protozoan parasite species have developed efficient strategies to increase the rate of medullary or extramedullary myelopoiesis and to induce the expansion and accumulation of immature myeloid ...

The anti-hypertensive drug captopril is used commonly to reduce blood pressure of patients with severe forms of Chagas disease, a cardiomyopathy caused by chronic infection with the intracellular protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. Captopril acts by inhibiting angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), the vasopressor metallopeptidase that generates angiotensin II and promotes the degradation of ...

Abs targeting blood-stage Ags of Plasmodium falciparum are important in acquired immunity to malaria, but major targets remain unclear. The P. falciparum reticulocyte-binding homologs (PfRh) are key ligands used by merozoites during invasion of erythrocytes. PfRh2a and PfRh2b are functionally important members of this family and may be targets of ...

Proteases are a ubiquitous group of enzymes that play key roles in the life cycle of parasites, in the host-parasite relationship, and in the pathogenesis of parasitic diseases. Furthermore, proteases are targets for the development of new anti-parasitic therapy. Protozoan parasites like Leishmania predominantly express Clan CA cysteine proteases for ...