Semaphorins are a large family of secreted and membrane-bound proteins. Recently, several roles of semaphorins in the immune system have emerged. Several semaphorins and their receptors are expressed in a variety of lymphoid and myeloid cells and affect immune cell functions, including cell proliferation, differentiation, chemotaxis, and cytokine production. However, ...

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is a highly fatal tumor arising from inner body membranes, whose extensive growth is facilitated by its week immunogenicity and by its ability to blunt the immune response which should arise from the huge mass of leukocytes typically infiltrating this tumor. It has been reported that the ...

With growing interest in cell-based scintigraphic diagnosis or therapy monitoring, there is an increasing demand for non-invasive observation and quantification of cell trafficking in the preclinical and clinical setting. Monocytes are members of the human mononuclear phagocyte system originating from a myeloid precursor in the bone. Labeled monocytes are being ...

Inactivated parapoxvirus ovis (iPPVO) shows strong immunomodulatory activities in several species and is used in veterinary medicine as an immunostimulatory biological for the prevention and/or treatment of infectious diseases. In this study the immunostimulatory capacity of iPPVO on the innate immune system was investigated in vitro by the evaluation of ...

Monocyte accumulation in renal allografts is associated with allograft dysfunction. As monocyte influx occurs acutely following reperfusion, we investigated the effect of ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) on monocyte colony stimulating factor (m-CSF), a key cytokine in monocyte recruitment. We hypothesized that renal tubule epithelial cells (RTECs) could produce m-CSF in response ...

Arteriogenesis (collateral vessel growth) is triggered by fluid shear stress in case of an arterial occlusion. It is an important focus in current cardiovascular research as it might provide new therapeutic opportunities. Although the molecular mechanisms underlying arteriogenesis are not yet completely understood, it has been shown that monocytes/macrophages and ...

It has been reported that mycelia of the Cordyceps sinensis (CS) can function as an immunostimulant. However, the active constituents of the mycelia are not well known. In this study, we investigated which components of the mycelia of CS induce monocyte activation and then structurally analyzed the active components. Assay ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Monocytes participate in adaptive and innate immune responses. Monocyte numbers increase in patients with stroke associated infection (SAI) or severe stroke. Whether changes in monocytes are related to specific effects, or simply mark brain damage, remains unsettled. METHODS: We used flow cytometry in 45 consecutive strokes and ...

The specialized role of mouse Gr-1(high) monocytes in local inflammatory reactions has been well documented, but the trafficking and responsiveness of this subset during systemic inflammation and their contribution to sepsis-related organ injury has not been investigated. Using flow cytometry, we studied monocyte subset margination to the pulmonary microcirculation during ...

Abstract Introduction The high-affinity receptor for IgG Fcγ/CD64 is critical for the development of lupus nephritis (LN). Cross-linking Fc receptor on recruited monocytes by IgG-containing immune complexes is a key step in immune-complex-mediated nephritis in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The goal of this study was to determine whether expression of ...

IL-25, a member of the IL-17 cytokine family, is known to enhance Th2-like responses associated with increased serum levels of IgE, IgG1, IgA, blood eosinophilia, and eosinophilic infiltrates in various tissues. However, IL-25 also abrogates inflammatory responses driven by Th17 cells. However, the cell types that respond to IL-25 and ...

BACKGROUND: Maggots of the blowfly Lucilia sericata are used for the treatment of chronic wounds. Earlier we reported maggot secretions to inhibit pro-inflammatory responses of human monocytes. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of maggot secretions on the differentiation of monocytes into pro-inflammatory (MØ-1) and anti-inflammatory/pro-angiogenic ...

Monocytes are circulating blood leukocytes that play important roles in the inflammatory response, which is essential for the innate response to pathogens. But inflammation and monocytes are also involved in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases, including atherosclerosis. In adult mice, monocytes originate in the bone marrow in a Csf-1R (MCSF-R, ...

Monocytes play a major role in the cellular defence against Aspergillus fumigatus in immunocompromised patients. To obtain a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in this interaction, phagocytosis and gene expression profiling of human monocytes was carried out after incubation with A. fumigatus resting, swollen and germinating conidia and hyphae ...

LPS induces an inflammatory state which kmitates septic shock and which involves also an organ which is immunologically advantageous, namely testicle. Within an area of a gonad, this manifests itself by histological changes in the structure of germinal epithelium. The blockages of cell divisions lead also to disorders in the ...

The CD300 glycoproteins are a family of related leucocyte surface molecules that modulate a diverse array of cell processes via their paired triggering and inhibitory receptor functions. All family members have a single Ig-V like domain and they share a common evolutionary pathway. At least one member of the family ...

Cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors were assayed from the supernatants of monocytes and macrophages cultured on common biomaterials with a range of surface chemistries. TNF-alpha, MCP-1, MIP-1alpha, IL-8, IL-6, IL-1beta, VEGF, IL-1ra, and IL-10 were measured from monocyte/macrophage cultures at different stages of activation and differentiation seeded onto polyethylene, polyurethane, ...

Sterile or non-infectious inflammation and severe infection are accompanied by very similar events. Damage (or danger)-associated molecular patterns and pathogen-associated molecular patterns trigger the release of inflammatory mediators and modulate the expression of cell surface receptors. The increased expression on monocytes and neutrophils of triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells ...

INTRODUCTION: Severe tissue trauma results in a general inflammatory immune response (SIRS) representing an overall inflammatory reaction of the immune system. However, there is little known about the functional alterations of monocytes in the early posttraumatic phase, characterized by the battle of the individual with the initial trauma. METHODS: Thirteen ...

BACKGROUND: Monocytes and macrophages play essential role in innate immunity. Understanding the underlying mechanism of macrophage differentiation and the identification of regulatory mechanisms will help to find new strategies to prevent their harmful effects in chronic inflammatory diseases and sepsis. RESULTS: Maturation of blood monocytes into tissue macrophages and subsequent ...

Staphylococcus aureus has emerged as a significant pathogen causing severe invasive disease in otherwise healthy people. Despite considerable advances in understanding the epidemiology, resistance mechanisms, and virulence factors produced by the bacteria, there is limited knowledge of the in vivo host immune response to acute, invasive S. aureus infections. Herein, ...

Monocytes and macrophages are key innate immune effector cells that produce cytokines and chemokines upon activation. We and others have shown that 17beta-estradiol (E2) has a direct role in the modulation of monocyte and macrophage immune function. However, relatively little is known about the ability of E2 to regulate isoform ...

The modulation of CD40L activity might represent a promising therapeutic target to reduce monocyte inflammatory functions in chronic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis. In the present study, we investigated the possible influence of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on CD40L-induced monocyte survival. Monocytes were isolated from buffy coats by using Ficoll-Percoll ...

Apoptosis depends upon the activation of intracellular caspases which are classically induced by either an intrinsic (mitochondrial based) or extrinsic (cytokine) pathway. However, in the process of explaining how endotoxin activated monocytes are able to induce apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells when co-cultured, we uncovered a transcellular apoptosis inducing ...

BACKGROUND: The processes that drive fibrotic diseases are complex and include an influx of peripheral blood monocytes that can differentiate into fibroblast-like cells called fibrocytes. Monocytes can also differentiate into other cell types, such as tissue macrophages. The ability to discriminate between monocytes, macrophages, fibrocytes, and fibroblasts in fibrotic lesions ...

There is a need for genetic markers or biomarkers that can predict resistance towards a wide range of infectious diseases, especially within a health environment typical of commercial farms. Such markers also need to be heritable under these conditions and ideally correlate with commercial performance traits. In this study, we ...

CCR2 plays a key role in regulating monocyte trafficking to sites of inflammation and therefore has been the focus of much interest as a target for inflammatory disease. Here we examined the effects of CCR2 blockade with a potent small molecule antagonist to determine the pharmacodynamic consequences on the peripheral ...

The intracellular gram-negative bacterium Francisella tularensis causes the disease tularemia and is known for its ability to subvert host immune responses. Previous work from our laboratory identified the PI3K/Akt pathway and SHIP as critical modulators of host resistance to Francisella. Here, we show that SHIP expression is strongly down-regulated in ...

Monocytes are circulating macrophage and dendritic cell precursors that populate healthy and diseased tissue. In humans, monocytes consist of at least two subsets whose proportions in the blood fluctuate in response to coronary artery disease, sepsis, and viral infection. Animal studies have shown that specific shifts in the monocyte subset ...

The processing of pro-interleukin-1beta depends on activation of caspase-1. Controversy has arisen whether Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands alone can activate caspase-1 for release of interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta). Here we demonstrate that human blood monocytes release processed IL-1beta after a one-time stimulation with either TLR2 or TLR4 ligands, resulting from constitutively activated ...

Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is a mucosal pathogen that is a major cause of respiratory infection, including sinusitis, otitis media and bronchitis. This bacterium has evolved a number of mechanisms to facilitate its survival in the human host. Recently it has been recognized that it is capable of intracellular survival ...

Interstitial monocytic infiltration of the kidney occurs within hours of acute kidney injury and is an important determinant of functional decline and fibrosis. Li et al. used several surface markers to distinguish between dendritic cells and inflammatory monocytes following acute kidney injury and to identify two chemokine receptors that regulate ...

Prokineticin 1 and 2 (PROK1 and PROK2) are two small proteins largely expressed in inflammatory tissues and involved in monocyte activation and differentiation. The focus of this study was to evaluate whether PROK1 was able to induce chemokine secretion in human monocytes, in monocyte-derived macrophages and in monocyte-derived dendritic cells, ...

We previously reported that the majority of in vitro monocyte/macrophage activation exhibited by extracts of Echinacea and other botanicals depends upon bacterial lipopolysaccharides and Braun-type bacterial lipoproteins. We determined the contribution made by these bacterial components to the overall immune-enhancing activity detected in E. purpurea and E. angustifolia bulk root ...

The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of bestatin, an aminopeptidase inhibitor, on the production of cytokines from peripheral blood monocytes and alveolar macrophages (AM). Human monocytes isolated from peripheral blood of healthy volunteers were incubated with or without lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the presence or absence of ...

Monocytes/macrophages recruited into the arterial wall during atherogenesis are crucial in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis and play a fundamental role in the destabilization process that is the main causal event of acute coronary syndromes. In the present study, we investigated the effect of the mammalian target of rapamycin ...

Inflammation is a characteristic of cardiovascular disease and is increased in end-stage renal disease. Suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS) inhibit and reflect activation of intracellular inflammatory pathways. We hypothesized that SOCS expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of end stage renal disease patients is increased. Whether SOCS expression in peripheral ...

To investigate the differences of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) expression and response of monocyte and modulation of 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3 on monocyte activity. Peripheral blood monocytes were collected from 23 healthy controls, 18 latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA), and 22 type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), respectively. CD14, TLR2 and TLR4 expression ...

The sustained overproduction of nitric oxide (NO) observed in inflammatory conditions can contribute to cell demise by affecting apoptosis. Nitration of tyrosine residues occurs in a range of diseases involving macrophage activation. Since NO induces apoptosis in monocytes/macrophages, we tested the hypothesis that nitration of specific proteins could result in ...

The olfactory epithelium (OE) is a site of massive adult neurogenesis where olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) are continuously turned over. Tissue macrophages have been implicated in phagocytosis of degenerating cells but the molecular mechanisms that allow for their recruitment while maintaining a neurogenic microenvironment are poorly understood. This study reports ...

CX(3)CR1 is a chemokine receptor with a single ligand, the membrane-tethered chemokine CX(3)CL1 (fractalkine). All blood monocytes express CX(3)CR1, but its levels differ between the main 2 subsets, with human CD16(+) and murine Gr1(low) monocytes being CX(3)CR1(hi). Here, we report that absence of either CX(3)CR1 or CX(3)CL1 results in a ...

The nervous system is constantly infiltrated by blood-derived sentinels known as perivascular macrophages. Their immediate precursors have not yet been identified in situ and the mechanism that governs their recruitment is mostly unknown. Here, we provide evidence that CD68(+)GR1(-) monocytes can give rise to perivascular macrophages in mice suffering from ...

Angioplasty with stent placement is commonly used to treat coronary atherosclerosis. However, 20-40% of stainless steel stents restenose within 6 months via a prolonged inflammatory response mediated by monocytic infiltration and cytokine secretion. In the current study, we tested a hypothesis that blood flow and monocytes interact to alter stent ...

Endomorphin-1 (EM-1) is an endogenous opioid peptide selectively binding to micro opioid receptors (MORs). Besides its analgesic effects on the central nervous system (CNS), it has been recently reported that EM-1 can cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and diffuse into the blood, behaving as an analgesic/anti-inflammatory molecule on peripheral tissues, ...

Peripheral blood monocytes are plastic cells that migrate to tissues and differentiate into various cell types, including macrophages, dendritic cells, and osteoclasts. We have described the migration of cellular inhibitor of apoptosis protein 1 (cIAP1), a member of the IAP family of proteins, from the nucleus to the Golgi apparatus ...

Down-regulation of the forkhead transcription factor Foxp1 by integrin engagement controls monocyte differentiation in vitro. To determine whether Foxp1 plays a critical role in monocyte differentiation and macrophage functions in vivo, we generated transgenic mice (macFoxp1tg) overexpressing human FOXP1 in monocyte/macrophage lineage cells using the CD68 promoter. Circulating blood monocytes ...

Astronauts live and work in relatively crowded, confined environments on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. They experience a unique set of stressors that contribute to a diminishment of many immune responses. This study investigated the ability of the shuttle crew members' monocytes to respond to gram-negative endotoxin ...

CONTEXT: Inflammation is pivotal to atherosclerosis. The monocyte-macrophage, a crucial cell in atherogenesis, is present during all stages of atherosclerosis. However, there is a paucity of data comparing circulating monocytes to cholesterol-laden macrophages (foam cells), with regard to their atherogenic properties, especially in subjects with established risk factors such as ...

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that T treatment withdrawal could be associated with an enhancement of proinflammatory cytokine production by peripheral blood monocytes and dendritic cells. DESIGN: A prospective intervention study. SETTING: Tertiary university hospital. PATIENT(S): Thirteen type 2 diabetic men aged >55 years with partial androgen deficiency and eight ...

Myeloid cell recruitment is a characteristic feature of bacterial meningitis. However, the cellular mechanisms important for the control of Streptococcus pneumoniae infection remain largely undefined. Previous pharmacological or genetic studies broadly depleted many myeloid cell types within the meninges, which did not allow defining the function of specific myeloid subsets. ...