Search results for "Chemokines"

Chemokines: reliable markers for diagnosis of rejection and inflammation following orthotopic liver transplantation.

2001

Serum nitrotyrosine and psychometric tests as indicators of impaired fitness to drive in cirrhotic patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy

2013

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Cirrhotic patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) show impaired driving ability and increased vehicle accidents. The neurological deficits contributing to impair driving and the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Early detection of driving impairment would help to reduce traffic accidents in MHE patients. It would be therefore useful to have psychometric or biochemical parameters reflecting driving impairment. The aims of this work were as follows: (i) to shed light on the neurological deficits contributing to impair driving; (ii) to assess whether some psychometric test or biochemical parameter is a good indicator of driving impairment. METHODS: We a…

Increased expression of the homeostatic chemokines CCL19 and CCL21 in clinical and experimental Rickettsia conorii infection

2013

Background: Based on their essential role in concerting immunological and inflammatory responses we hypothesized that the homeostatic chemokines CCL19 and CCL21 may play a pathogenic role in rickettsiae infection. Methods: Serum levels of CCL19 and CCL21 in patients with R. africae and R. conorii infection were analyzed by enzyme immunoassays. Lungs from R. conorii infected mice were examined for CCL19, CCL21 and CCR7 expression by immunohistochemistry. Results: We found that patients with R. africae infection (n = 15) and in particular those with R. conorii infection (n = 16) had elevated serum levels of CCL19 on admission, with a decline during follow-up. While a similar pattern was seen …

Cerebrospinal fluid T-regulatory cells recognize Borrelia burgdorferi NAPA in chronic Lyme borreliosis.

2013

The NapA protein of B. burgdorferi is essential for the persistence of spirochetes in ticks. One of the most intriguing aspects of NapA is its potential to interfere with the host immune system. Here, we investigated the role of the acquired immune responses induced by NapA in the cerebrospinal fluids (CSF) of patients with chronic Lyme borreliosis. We evaluated the cytokine profile induced in microglia cells and CSF T cells following NapA stimulation. We report here that NapA induced a regulatory T (Treg) response in the CSF of patients with chronic Lyme borreliosis and it is able to expand this suppressive response by promoting the production of TGF-β and IL-10 by microglia cells. Collect…

A novel role of the CX3CR1/CX3CL1 system in the cross-talk between chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells and tumor microenvironment

2011

Several chemokines/chemokine receptors such as CCR7, CXCR4 and CXCR5 attract chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells to specific microenvironments. Here we have investigated whether the CX(3)CR1/CX(3)CL1 axis is involved in the interaction of CLL with their microenvironment. CLL cells from 52 patients expressed surface CX(3)CR1 and CX(3)CL1 and released constitutively soluble CX(3)CL1. One third of these were attracted in vitro by soluble CX(3)CL1. CX(3)CL1-induced phosphorylation of PI3K, Erk1/2, p38, Akt and Src was involved in induction of CLL chemotaxis. Leukemic B cells upregulated CXCR4 upon incubation with CX(3)CL1 and this was paralleled by increased chemotaxis to CXCL12. Akt phosp…

CC chemokine receptor 5 polymorphism in Italian patients with Beḩet's disease

2012

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the potential role of CC chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5)Δ32 polymorphism in the susceptibility to and clinical expression of Behcet's disease (BD) in a cohort of Italian patients. METHODS: One hundred and ninety-six consecutive Italian patients satisfying the ISG criteria for BD were followed up for 8 years, and 180 healthy age- and sex-matched blood donors were molecularly genotyped for the CCR5Δ32 polymorphism. A standard microlymphocytotoxicity technique was used to serotype HLA-B51. The patients were subgrouped on the basis of the presence or absence of clinical manifestations. RESULTS: The distribution of the CCR5Δ32 genotype differed between BD patients and controls…

The Maternal Cytokine and Chemokine Profile of Naturally Conceived Gestations Is Mainly Preserved duringIn VitroFertilization and Egg Donation Pregna…

2015

This prospective longitudinal study aimed at comparing maternal immune response among naturally conceived (NC;n=25),in vitrofertilization (IVF;n=25), and egg donation (ED;n=25) pregnancies. The main outcome measures were, firstly, to follow up plasma levels of interleukin (IL) 1beta, IL2, IL4, IL5, IL6, IL8, IL10, IL17, interferon gamma, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα), transforming growth factor-beta (TGFβ), regulated upon activation normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES), stromal cell-derived factor 1 alpha (SDF1α), and decidual granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) during the three trimesters of pregnancy during the three trimesters of pregnancy; secondly, t…

Natural Proteolytic Processing of Hemofiltrate Cc Chemokine 1 Generates a Potent Cc Chemokine Receptor (Ccr)1 and Ccr5 Agonist with Anti-HIV Properti…

2000

Hemofiltrate CC chemokine (HCC)-1 is a recently described human chemokine that is constitutively expressed in numerous tissues and is present at high concentrations in normal plasma. Using a cell line expressing CC chemokine receptor (CCR)5 as a bioassay, we isolated from human hemofiltrate an HCC-1 variant lacking the first eight amino acids. HCC-1[9–74] was a potent agonist of CCR1, CCR3, and CCR5 and promoted calcium flux and chemotaxis of T lymphoblasts, monocytes, and eosinophils. It also blocked entry of HIV-1 strains using CCR5 as coreceptor. Limited tryptic digestion of HCC-1 generated the active variant. Conditioned media from several tumor cell lines activated HCC-1 with a high ef…

Menopause and ovariectomy cause a low grade of systemic inflammation that may be prevented by chronic treatment with low doses of estrogen or losarta…

2009

Abstract The incidence of cardiovascular diseases in premenopausal women is lower than in men or postmenopausal women. This study reports the discovery of a low grade of systemic inflammation, including monocyte adhesion to arterial endothelium, elicited by menopause or estrogen depletion. Chronic treatment with low dose of 17-β-estradiol or inhibition of the renin-angiotensin system reduced this inflammation. Using an in vitro flow chamber system with human arterial and venous endothelial cells, we found that leukocytes from healthy postmenopausal women were more adhesive to the arterial endothelium than those from premenopausal women regardless of the stimulus used on endothelial cells. I…

IL-21 Regulates the Differentiation of a Human γδ T Cell Subset Equipped with B Cell Helper Activity

2012

Vγ9Vδ2 T lymphocytes recognize nonpeptidic antigens without presentation by MHC molecules and display pleiotropic features. Here we report that coculture of Vγ9Vδ2 cells with phosphoantigen and IL-21 leads to selective expression of the transcription repressor Bcl-6 and polarization toward a lymphocyte subset displaying features of follicular B-helper T (T(FH)) cells. T(FH) like Vγ9Vδ2 cells have a predominant central memory (CD27(+)CD45RA(-)) phenotype and express ICOS, CD40L and CXCR5. Upon antigen activation, they secrete IL-4, IL-10 and CXCL13, and provide B-cell help for antibody production in vitro. Our findings delineate a subset of human Vγ9Vδ2 lymphocytes, which, upon interaction w…