CD46 is an important immune regulatory receptor with multiple functions. However, studies on the function of teleost CD46, especially the different CD46 isoforms are limited. In this study, we ...identified three membrane cofactor protein (MCP, CD46) gene isoforms from ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis) and tentatively named as PaCD46 isoforms. PaCD46 isoforms were generated by alternative splicing and all consisted of four conserved short consensus repeats (SCRs), and the variable serine-threonine-proline-rich domain, transmembrane hydrophobic domain, and cytoplasmic tail. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the isoforms clustered together with other fish CD46 and then with higher animal CD46. Western blotting analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) revealed three bands, all of which had much larger molecular weights than the theoretical values of the three PaCD46 isoforms. Moreover, three PaCD46 isoforms were individually expressed on HEK293 cells, and Western blotting showed the similar band profile to that of PBMC. The recombinant extracellular domain of the PaCD46 isoforms, obtained by expression in Pichia pastoris, significantly reduced hemolysis activity of ayu sera. Furthermore, each of the three PaCD46 isoforms respectively protected the HEK293 cells expressing the isoform. The isoforms were also identified for their protection of autologous PBMC from complement activation. These results provided the first evidence that PaCD46 isoforms may be complement regulatory proteins to prevent complement-induced damage to self-tissue.
•We characterized three PaCD46 isoforms from ayu.•PaCD46 isoforms expressed on PBMC membrane.•PaCD46 isoforms protect autologous PBMC from excessive complement activation.•The extracellular domains of PaCD46 isoforms are involved in complement regulation.
Tumor-infiltrating immune cells phenotype is associated with tumor progression. However, little is known about the phenotype of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from breast cancer ...patients. We investigated MMP1 and MMP11 expression in PBMC from breast cancer patients and we analyzed gene expression changes upon their interaction with cancer cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF). We measured the impact of PBMC on proinflammatory gene expression in breast cancer cells, normal fibroblast (NF), and CAF and the impact on proliferation and invasiveness capacity of breast cancer cells. Gene expression of MMP1 and MMP11 in PBMC from breast cancer patients (
= 54) and control (
= 28); expression of IL1A, IL6, IL17, IFNβ, and NFĸB in breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231); and, additionally, IL10 and MMP11 in CAF and NF were analyzed by qRT-PCR before and after co-culture. Our results show the existence of a subpopulation of breast cancer patients (25.9%) with very high levels of MMP11 gene expression in PBMC. Also, gene expression of MMP1 and MMP11 increases in PBMC after co-culture with breast cancer cell lines, NF or CAF. PBMC from healthy or breast cancer patients induce an increased proliferation rate on MCF-7 and an increased invasiveness capacity of MDA-MB-231. Finally, we show a differential expression profile of inflammatory genes in NF and CAF when co-cultured with control or breast cancer PBMC. We have observed that MMPs' expression in PBMC is regulated by the microenvironment, while the expression of inflammatory genes in NF or CAF is differentially regulated by PBMC. These findings confirm the importance of the crosstalk between stromal cells and suggest that PBMC would play a role in promoting aggressive tumor behavior.
Seventeen semicarbazone and thiosemicarbazone derivatives were prepared and tested in vitro against a chloroquine resistant strain of
Plasmodium falciparum (W2) to evaluate their antiplasmodial ...potential. Three thiosemicarbazones were found to be active against the parasite and non-toxic to human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Among these, compound
5b presented the lowest IC
50 value against
P. falciparum (7.2
μM) and was the least toxic in the PBMC proliferation assay (IC
50
=
73.5
μM). It was selected for in vivo tests on mice infected with
Plasmodium berghei (strain NK-65). The thiosemicarbazone
5b was able to reduce the parasitaemia by 61% at 20
mg/kg on day 7 after infection without any sign of toxicity to the animals. In comparison, the standard drug chloroquine at 15
mg/kg showed a reduction around 95%. These in vitro and in vivo results make
5b an interesting lead for further development.
Display omitted Semicarbazone and thiosemicarbazone derivatives were prepared and tested in vitro against a chloroquine resistant strain of
Plasmodium falciparum (W2) to evaluate their antiplasmodial potential. The thiosemicarbazone
5b was selected for in vivo tests on mice infected with
Plasmodium berghei (strain NK-65). The in vitro and in vivo results make
5b an interesting lead for further development.
There is a significant fluctuation in clinical symptoms of asthmatic females during their life course, suggesting that the reproductive status and the level of sex hormones may affect the development ...of asthma and its exacerbation. In this study, we aimed to assess the biological effects of 17β-estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4), alone or in combination form, on the transcription factors and production of cytokines in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). PBMCs of the mild-to-moderate asthmatic patients and healthy controls (HCs) were treated with equivalent serum levels of E2 or P4 maintained during hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The expression levels of T-bet, GATA-3, RORγt, PU.1, and Foxp3 were assessed by quantitative PCR. We also measured the concentration of IL-4, IL-9, IL-10, IFN-γ, and TGF-β in cell culture supernatants using ELISA. IL-4 production and GATA-3 expression levels slightly increased when asthmatic PBMCs were treated with E2 (p < 0.01), P4 (p < 0.01), or E2 + P4 (p < 0.001) compared to the untreated cells. IL-9 secretion (p < 0.001) and PU.1 gene expression levels (p < 0.05) were slightly higher in asthmatic patients’ PBMCs before treatment but hormone therapy did not affect the level of them. Although the untreated asthmatic PBMCs produced a lower amount of IFN-γ compared to HCs (p < 0.01), hormone treatment did not affect the levels of IFN-γ secretion in patient groups. Moreover, we did not observe any significant changes in IL-10 and TGF-β secretion in the supernatant of hormone treated cells. We found that the common applied HRT may faintly increase GATA-3 expression and IL-4 production levels in PBMCs of asthmatic patients and can slightly increase asthma severity.
The long exposure to heat negatively changes performance and productivity of animals, particularly when heat stress is associated with gestation. Indeed, little is known about the negative effects of ...long-term heat stress on the final gestation of dairy goats. In this context, the physiological and cellular responses of Saanen goats submitted to heat stress (37°C from 10:00 to 16:00 h) were investigated from day 60th pre-partum to day 60th post-partum. At final gestation, 46 pregnant Saanen goats were randomly assigned to the treatments: control (CT; thermal neutral conditions) and heat stress (HS; climatic chamber). After partum, all experimental goats were maintained in thermal neutral conditions. The rectal, dorsal, mammary temperatures and respiratory frequency, cortisol release, milk yield, milk quality, and the genes HSP60, HSP70, HSP90, Glucocorticoid receptor and ACTHR. Goats subjected to HS showed significantly (
P
< 0.05) higher rectal, dorsal, and mammary temperatures and significantly mobilized the increase of respiratory frequency to lose heat as compared to CT goats. The HS challenge significantly increased cortisol release from day 15th pre-partum to day 15th post-partum. CT goats produced more milk than HS from weeks 4 to 10 of lactation (
P
<0.001), with no difference in milk quality. However, on day 15th post-partum, there was a significant effect of HS treatment on the expression of
HSP70
and
ACTHR
genes as compared to CT treatment, confirming the long-term effect of HS on Saanen goats. In conclusion, the physiological parameters studied increased pre-partum in the hottest hour, and cortisol peaked on day 15 pre-partum for heat-stressed goats. Although on the 15th day post-partum, all goats were in thermal comfort, and the physiological parameters were within the normal range, the concentration of cortisol continued to be significantly higher for goats submitted to thermal stress. Indeed, milk yield was greater for goats subjected to pre-partum thermal comfort. Furthermore, the expression of HSP70 and ACTHR genes on peripheral blood mononuclear cells are interesting biomarkers for studying the long-term effect of heat stress on Saanen goats.
T-lymphocytes are present in the endometrium before pregnancy and their number varies depending on menstrual cycle stage. Despite T-lymphocyte population heterogeneity, there is no clear vision of ...general mechanisms of decidua T-lymphocyte pool formation. One of the assumed variants is T-lymphocyte proliferation in situ. The study objective is to evaluate variations of peripheral blood T-lymphocyte proliferative activity in the presence of trophoblast cells. The peripheral blood was sampled from healthy nonpregnant women in the proliferative (n = 29) and secretory (n = 32) menstrual cycle phases and also from women on 6-7 weeks stage of physiological pregnancy (n = 30). Jeg-3 (ATCC) line cells were applied as trophoblast cells within in vitro model system. T-lymphocyte proliferation was determined by estimating the Ki-67 expression and T-lymphocyte relative number. It was established that trophoblast cells perform inhibiting effect on Ki-67 by T-lymphocytes in all groups of examined women both in course of PBMC cultivation and in case of preliminarily isolated T-lymphocytes. During cultivation in the presence of IL-2 and trophoblasts, PBMC T-lymphocytes in pregnant women are more resistant to trophoblast cells inhibition than in nonpregnant women. In case of isolated T-lymphocytes, decreased T-lymphocyte proliferation during pregnancy was observed as compared to the proliferative cycle phase hence pointing to necessity of T-lymphocyte contact with microenvironment cells for self-support.
► ZEN and ZEN derivatives may interfere with the immune response. ► We examine toxin induced changes in the PBMC viability and on several immune key parameters. ► The toxins decreased the cell ...viability, antibody and cytokine synthesis. ► This could affect the capacity of the intoxicated animals to perform an adequate immune response.
Zearalenone (ZEN), a mycotoxin produced by several Fusarium spp., is most commonly found as a contaminant in stored grain and has chronic estrogenic effects on mammals. In this in vitro study, we compared the effects of zearalenone (ZEN) and some of its derivatives: α-zearalenol (α-ZOL), β-zearalenol (β-ZOL), and zearalanone (ZAN) on several peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) parameters: cytotoxicity, proliferation, as well as antibody and cytokine synthesis. The amounts of toxins necessary to inhibit viability, in a dehydrogenase enzyme activity assay (MTT test), by 50% were: 22.7μM for ZEN, 29.1μM for α-ZOL, 17.3μM for β-ZOL and 26.3μM for ZAN. The administration of 10μM toxin induced a decrease in the ConA stimulated proliferation of PBMC by 19.6% for ZAN, 45.4% for ZEN, 43.6% for α-ZOL and 85.2% for β-ZOL, when compared to the control stimulated cells. Also, ZEN and its metabolites at concentrations higher than 5μM induced a significant decrease of the IgG, IgA or IgM levels. Concentrations of 5 and 10μM of ZEN and ZAN significantly decreased the TNF-α synthesis in the supernatant of the stimulated cells; 10μM of ZAN also decreased IL-8 synthesis. In conclusion, our results show that ZEN and ZEN derivatives altered several parameters of the humoral and cellular immune response.
Therefore, our results are clinically relevant as ZEN and its metabolites are frequent contaminants of animal feed and we have shown that intoxicated animals are incapable of inducing an adequate immune response.
Diet may alter gene expression in immune cells involved in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease susceptibility. However, we still lack a robust understanding of the association between diet and ...immune cell-related gene expression in humans. Therefore, we examined associations between dietary patterns (DPs) and gene expression profiles in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in a population of healthy, Norwegian adults (n = 130 women and 105 men).
We used factor analysis to define a posteriori DPs from food frequency questionnaire-based dietary assessment data. In addition, we derived interpretable features from microarray-based gene expression data (13 967 transcripts) using two algorithms: CIBERSORT for estimation of cell subtype proportions, and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) for cluster discovery. Finally, we associated DPs with either CIBERSORT-predicted PBMC leukocyte distribution or WGCNA gene clusters using linear regression models. We detected three DPs that broadly reflected Western, Vegetarian, and Low carbohydrate diets. CIBERSORT-predicted percentage of monocytes associated negatively with the Vegetarian DP. For women, the Vegetarian DP associated with a large gene cluster consisting of 600 genes mainly involved in regulation of DNA transcription, whereas for men, the Western DP inversely associated with a smaller cluster of 36 genes mainly involved in regulation of metabolic and inflammatory processes. A subsequent protein–protein interaction network analysis suggested that genes within these clusters might physically interact in biological networks.
Although the present findings are exploratory, our analysis pipeline serves as a useful framework for studying the association between diet and gene expression.
•We associated dietary patterns (DPs) with interpretable gene expression features.•Vegetarian-type DP inversely associated with predicted level of monocytes.•In women, vegetarian-type DP associated with regulation of transcription.•In men, western-type DP associated with regulation of metabo-inflammation.
Since its discovery in 2001, the major focus of TAAR1 research has been on its role in monoaminergic regulation, drug-induced reward and psychiatric conditions. More recently, TAAR1 expression and ...functionality in immune system regulation and immune cell activation has become a topic of emerging interest. Here, we review the immunologically-relevant TAAR1 literature and incorporate open-source expression and cancer survival data meta-analyses. We provide strong evidence for TAAR1 expression in the immune system and cancers revealed through NCBI GEO datamining and discuss its regulation in a spectrum of immune cell types as well as in numerous cancers. We discuss connections and logical directions for further study of TAAR1 in immunological function, and its potential role as a mediator or modulator of immune dysregulation, immunological effects of psychostimulant drugs of abuse, and cancer progression.