Search results for "Lee"

Oral health and systemic inflammatory, cardiac and nitroxid biomarkers in hemodialysis patients.

2016

Background Periodontal diseases have systemic inflammatory effects and have been adversely associated with cardiovascular diseases, which are also the most frequent cause of death in the end-stage renal disease. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the oral health and serum biomarkers among the hemodialysis (HD) patients in Slovenia. Material and Methods 111 HD patients were periodontally examined and their sera were assayed for C reactive protein (CRP), cardiac troponin T (TnT), nitrite/nitrate (NOx) and antibody levels to A. actinomycetemcomitans and P. gingivalis. The association of oral health with systemic response was analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis test, Fisher’s exa…

Fasciola hepatica reinfection potentiates a mixed Th1/Th2/Th17/Treg response and correlates with the clinical phenotypes of anemia.

2016

Background: Fascioliasis is a severe zoonotic disease of worldwide extension caused by liver flukes. In human fascioliasis hyperendemic areas, reinfection and chronicity are the norm and anemia is the main sign. Herein, the profile of the Th1/Th2/Th17/Treg expression levels is analyzed after reinfection, correlating them with their corresponding hematological biomarkers of morbidity. Methodology/Principal findings: The experimental design reproduces the usual reinfection/chronicity conditions in human fascioliasis endemic areas and included Fasciola hepatica primo-infected Wistar rats (PI) and rats reinfected at 8 weeks (R8), and at 12 weeks (R12), and negative control rats. In a cross-sect…

Blood zinc levels and cognitive and functional evaluation in non-demented older patients.

2018

A complete battery of geriatric and psychometric tests was used to determine whether plasma-borne zinc (Zn), a key ion in neuroplasticity, can be associated with the severity of functional, psychological and cognitive impairment in non-demented older individuals. There was a significant positive correlation between plasma Zn levels and the concentration subcategory measured with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) test (p  0.001), but not the total MMSE score, and the levels were significantly reduced in polymedicated patients (defined as concurrent administration of5 drugs). No correlations were found between plasma Zn levels and depressive symptoms measured with the Yesavage scale fo…

Multi-ancestry genome-wide gene-sleep interactions identify novel loci for blood pressure.

2021

AbstractLong and short sleep duration are associated with elevated blood pressure (BP), possibly through effects on molecular pathways that influence neuroendocrine and vascular systems. To gain new insights into the genetic basis of sleep-related BP variation, we performed genome-wide gene by short or long sleep duration interaction analyses on four BP traits (systolic BP, diastolic BP, mean arterial pressure, and pulse pressure) across five ancestry groups using 1 degree of freedom (1df) interaction and 2df joint tests. Primary multi-ancestry analyses in 62,969 individuals in stage 1 identified 3 novel loci that were replicated in an additional 59,296 individuals in stage 2, including rs7…

Gut dysbiosis and adaptive immune response in diet-induced obesity vs. Systemic inflammation

2017

A mutual interplay exists between adaptive immune system and gut microbiota. Altered gut microbial ecosystems are associated with the metabolic syndrome, occurring in most obese individuals. However, it is unknown why 10-25% of obese individuals are metabolically healthy, while normal weight individuals can develop inflammation and atherosclerosis. We modelled these specific metabolic conditions in mice fed with a chow diet, an obesogenic but not inflammatory diet - mimicking healthy obesity, or Paigen diet - mimicking inflammation in the lean subjects. We analysed a range of markers and cytokines in the aorta, heart, abdominal fat, liver and spleen, and metagenomics analyses were performed…

Systemic Candidiasis and TLR2 Agonist Exposure Impact the Antifungal Response of Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells.

2018

We have previously demonstrated that Candida albicans induces differentiation of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) toward the myeloid lineage both in vitro and in vivo in a TLR2- and Dectin-1-dependent manner, giving rise to functional macrophages. In this work, we used an ex vivo model to investigate the functional consequences for macrophages derived from HSPCs in vivo-exposed to Pam3CSK4 (a TLR2 agonist) or C. albicans infection. Short in vivo treatment of mice with Pam3CSK4 results in a tolerized phenotype of ex vivo HSPC-derived macrophages, whereas an extended Pam3CSK4 treatment confers a trained phenotype. Early during candidiasis, HSPCs give rise to macrophages trained…

Notch and TLR signaling coordinate monocyte cell fate and inflammation

2020

AbstractConventional Ly6Chi monocytes have developmental plasticity for a spectrum of differentiated phagocytes. Here we show, using conditional deletion strategies in a mouse model of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 7-induced inflammation, that the spectrum of developmental cell fates of Ly6Chi monocytes, and the resultant inflammation, is coordinately regulated by TLR and Notch signaling. Cell-intrinsic Notch2 and TLR7-Myd88 pathways independently and synergistically promote Ly6Clo patrolling monocyte development from Ly6Chi monocytes under inflammatory conditions, while impairment in either signaling axis impairs Ly6Clo monocyte development. At the same time, TLR7 stimulation in the absence of …

2018

In this study we analysed the effects of prophylactic biolistic DNA vaccination with plasmids encoding the encephalitogenic protein myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) on the severity of a subsequently MOGp35-55-induced EAE and on the underlying immune response. We compared the outcome of vaccination with MOG-encoding plasmids alone or in combination with vectors encoding the regulatory cytokines IL-10 and TGF-s1, respectively. MOG expression was restricted to skin dendritic cells (DCs) by the use of the DC-specific promoter of the fascin1 gene (pFscn-MOG). For comparison, the strong and ubiquitously active CMV promoter was employed (pCMV-MOG), which allows MOG expression in all trans…

Murine cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection via the intranasal route offers a robust model of immunity upon mucosal CMV infection

2016

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a ubiquitous virus, causing the most common congenital infection in humans, yet a vaccine against this virus is not available. Experimental studies of immunity against CMV in animal models of infection, such as the infection of mice with mouse CMV (MCMV), have relied mainly on parenteral infection protocols, although the virus naturally transmits by mucosal routes via body fluids. To characterize the biology of infections by mucosal routes, we compared the kinetics of virus replication, latent viral load and CD8 T-cell responses in lymphoid organs upon experimental intranasal (targeting the respiratory tract) and intragastric (targeting the digestive tract) infectio…

The murine cytomegalovirus M35 protein antagonizes type I IFN induction downstream of pattern recognition receptors by targeting NF-κB mediated trans…

2017

The type I interferon (IFN) response is imperative for the establishment of the early antiviral immune response. Here we report the identification of the first type I IFN antagonist encoded by murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) that shuts down signaling following pattern recognition receptor (PRR) sensing. Screening of an MCMV open reading frame (ORF) library identified M35 as a novel and strong negative modulator of IFNβ promoter induction following activation of both RNA and DNA cytoplasmic PRR. Additionally, M35 inhibits the proinflammatory cytokine response downstream of Toll-like receptors (TLR). Using a series of luciferase-based reporters with specific transcription factor binding sites, …