1,721,032 research outputs found
NOD2 and inflammation: Current insights
No full textThe nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD) protein, NOD2, belonging to the intracellular NOD-like receptor family, detects conserved motifs in bacterial peptidoglycan and promotes their clearance through activation of a proinflammatory transcriptional program and other innate immune pathways, including autophagy and endoplasmic reticulum stress. An inactive form due to mutations or a constitutive high expression of NOD2 is associated with several inflammatory diseases, suggesting that balanced NOD2 signaling is critical for the maintenance of immune homeostasis. In this review, we discuss recent developments about the pathway and mechanisms of regulation of NOD2 and illustrate the principal functions of the gene, with particular emphasis on its central role in maintaining the equilibrium between intestinal microbiota and host immune responses to control inflammation. Furthermore, we survey recent studies illustrating the role of NOD2 in several inflammatory diseases, in particular, inflammatory bowel disease, of which it is the main susceptibility gene. © 2018 Negroni et al. This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited
Role of HMGB1 as a suitable biomarker of subclinical intestinal inflammation and mucosal healing in patients with inflammatory bowel disease
No full textBackground: Noninvasive biomarkers of high- and low-grade intestinal inflammation and of mucosal healing (MH) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease are currently lacking. We have recently shown that fecal high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) protein is a novel biomarker of gut inflammation. We aimed at investigating in a mouse model if HMGB1 was able to foresee both a clinically evident and a subclinical gut inflammation and if its normalization indicated MH. We also aimed at confirming the results in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis. Methods: C57BL6/J mice were treated with increasing doses of dextran sodium sulphate to induce colitis of different severity degrees; 28 with CD, 23 with ulcerative colitis, and 17 controls were also enrolled. Fecal HMGB1 was analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunoblotting. Results: Fecal HMGB1 increased by 5-, 11-, 18-, and 24-folds with dextran sodium sulphate doses of 0.25%, 0.50%, 1%, and 4%, respectively, showing that the protein detected a high-grade and a subclinical inflammation. After a recovery time of 4-week posttreatment, HMGB1 returned to control levels, paralleling MH. In patients, fecal HMGB1 significantly correlated with endoscopic indexes (Simple Endoscopic Score for Crohn's Disease [SES-CD], endoscopic Mayo subscore), but not with the disease activity indexes (Crohn's disease Activity Index, partial Mayo score). Conclusions: Fecal HMGB1 is a robust noninvasive biomarker of clinically overt and subclinical gut inflammation; it can also be a surrogate marker of MH. We suggest the use of fecal HMGB1 to monitor the disease course and assess therapy outcomes in inflammatory bowel disease. Copyright © 2014 Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America, Inc
Apoptosis, necrosis, and necroptosis in the gut and intestinal homeostasis
No full textIntestinal epithelial cells (IECs) form a physiochemical barrier that separates the intestinal lumen from the host's internal milieu and is critical for electrolyte passage, nutrient absorption, and interaction with commensal microbiota. Moreover, IECs are strongly involved in the intestinal mucosal inflammatory response as well as in mucosal innate and adaptive immune responses. Cell death in the intestinal barrier is finely controlled, since alterations may lead to severe disorders, including inflammatory diseases. The emerging picture indicates that intestinal epithelial cell death is strictly related to the maintenance of tissue homeostasis. This review is focused on previous reports on different forms of cell death in intestinal epithelium. © 2015 Anna Negroni et al
Krill oil, vitamin D and Lactobacillus reuteri cooperate to reduce gut inflammation
No full textCurrent research into original therapies to treat intestinal inflammation is focusing on no-drug therapies. KLD is a mixture of krill oil (KO), probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri (LR), and vitamin D (VitD3). The aim of this study was to assess in vitro and in vivo the potential cooperative effects of KLD in reducing gut inflammation. Colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines, CACO2 and HT29, and C57BL/6 mice were used for in vitro and in vivo analyses, respectively. Cells were exposed to cytomix (interferon gamma + tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a)) to induce inflammation or co-exposed to cytomix and KO, LR and VitD3 alone or to cytomix and KLD. Animals were treated for 7 days with dextran sodium sulphate (DSS) to induce colitis or with DSS and KLD. In vitro assays: F-actin expression was analysed by immunofluorescence; scratch test and trans-epithelial electric resistance test were performed to measure wound healing; adhesion/invasion assays of adhesive and invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC) bacteria were made; mRNA expression of TNF-α, interleukin (IL)-8 and vitamin D receptor (VDR) was detected by quantitative PCR. In vivo assays: body weight, clinical score, histological score and large intestine weight and length were estimated; mRNA expression of TNF-α, IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-10 by quantitative PCR; VDR expression was detected by quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry. In vitro: KLD restores epithelial cell-cell adhesion and mucosal healing during inflammation, while decreases the adhesiveness and invasiveness of AIEC bacteria and TNF-α and IL-8 mRNA expression and increases VDR expression. In vivo: KLD significantly improves body weight, clinical score, histological score and large intestine length of mice with DSS-induced colitis and reduces TNF-α, IL-1ß and IL-6 mRNA levels, while increases IL-10 mRNA and VDR levels. KLD has significant effects on the intestinal mucosa, strongly decreasing inflammation, increasing epithelial restitution and reducing pathogenicity of harmful commensal bacteria. © 2018 Wageningen Academic Publishers
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Dipotassium glycyrrhizate via HMGB1 or AMPK signaling suppresses oxidative stress during intestinal inflammation
No full textAims Oxidative stress and inflammation are always associated. Appropriate management of oxidative mediators may represent a therapeutic strategy to reduce inflammation, and use of antioxidant can be protective against inflammatory diseases. Glycyrrhizin (GL) plays an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect by inhibiting high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) or 11-β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type II (11βHSD2) enzyme. In this study, the potential role of dipotassium glycyrrhizate (DPG), a salt of GL, to reduce oxidative stress in intestinal inflammatory condition was investigated in vivo and the mechanism of action of DPG was studied in vitro. Results In a colitis mouse model DPG affected oxidative stress reducing iNOS and COX-2 expression, as well as NO and PGE2 levels. By means of LPS-stimulated macrophages we found that DPG inhibited the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and reduced iNOS and COX-2 expression in a time dependent manner, through two different ways of signal. DPG reduced, at a later time, both iNOS and COX-2, through a mechanism HMGB1-dependent, and at an earlier time only COX-2, through a mechanism AMP-activated kinase (AMPK)-phosphorylation-mediated. Conclusion DPG has a protective effect on colitis and inflammation through the inhibition of oxidative stress. This study clarifies the two-ways mechanism by which DPG inhibits iNOS and COX-2 during inflammation and demonstrates for the first time that AMPK is a target of DPG. Uncovering this mechanism is significant to clarify the relationship between energy homeostasis and anti-oxidative responses and suggests that DPG could play a relevant role in the development of new therapy against inflammatory diseases associated to oxidative stress. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
Endoplasmic reticulum stress and unfolded protein response are involved in paediatric inflammatory bowel disease
No full textBackground: Endoplasmic reticulum stress and unfolded protein response have been recently associated with the development of inflammatory bowel diseases in adults. We aimed at assessing the involvement of these pathways also in paediatric inflammatory bowel disease by analysing the expression of the main genes involved in endoplasmic reticulum stress and correlating them with the degree of intestinal inflammation. Methods: Real-time PCR and Western blot analysis of the expression of the endoplasmic reticulum stress marker HSPA5 and of selected genes representing the three pathways of unfolded protein response (IRE-XBP1, PERK-ATF4, ATF6p90-p50) in inflamed and uninflamed biopsies from 28 inflammatory bowel disease paediatric patients and 10 controls. Results: HSPA5, PDIA4, as well as unspliced and spliced XBP1 mRNAs were significantly increased in patients' inflamed colonic mucosa compared to uninflamed mucosa and controls. HSPA5, PDIA4, ATF6, and phospho-IRE proteins were also upregulated, indicating the activation of the IRE-XBP1 and ATF6p90-p50 branches of unfolded protein response. A positive significant correlation between interleukin-8 levels, as a marker of inflammation, and upregulated genes was found in the inflamed colonic mucosa. Conclusion: A deregulation of the genes involved in the endoplasmic reticulum stress and unfolded protein response pathways may be a key component of the inflammatory response in paediatric patients with inflammatory bowel disease. © 2014 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l
Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate Inhibits HMGB1-Dependent Inflammation and Ameliorates Colitis in Mice
No full textBackground:High mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) is a DNA-binding protein that is released from injured cells during inflammation. Advances in targeting HMGB1 represent a major challenge to improve the treatment of acute/chronic inflammation.Aim:This study is aimed at verifying whether the inhibition of HMGB1 through dipotassium glycyrrhizate (DPG) is a good strategy to reduce intestinal inflammation.Methods:Human colon adenocarcinoma cell line, HT29, human epithelial colorectal adenocarcinoma, Caco2, and murine macrophage cell line, RAW 264.7, were cultured to investigate the effect of DPG on the secretion of HMGB1. Acute colitis was induced in C57BL/6 mice through administration of 3% dextran sodium sulphate (DSS); a combined treatment with DSS and 3 or 8 mg/kg/day DPG was used to investigate the effects of DPG on intestinal inflammation. Animals were euthanized at seventh day and colonic samples underwent molecular and histological analyses.Results:DPG significantly reduces in vitro the release of HMGB1 in the extracellular matrix as well as expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-alpha, IL-1beta and IL-6, by inhibiting HMGB1. Moreover, DPG significantly decreases the severity of DSS-induced colitis in mice. Murine colonic samples show decreased mRNA levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha, IL-1beta and IL-6, as well as HMGB1 receptors, RAGE and TLR4. Finally, HMGB1, abundantly present in the feces of mice with DSS-induced colitis, is strongly reduced by DPG.Conclusions:HMGB1 is an early pro-inflammatory cytokine and an active protagonist of mucosal gut inflammation. DPG exerts inhibitory effects against HMGB1 activity, significantly reducing intestinal inflammation. Thus, we reason that DPG could represent an innovative tool for the management of human intestinal inflammation. © 2013 Vitali et al
Necroptosis in intestinal inflammation and cancer: new concepts and therapeutic perspectives
Full text linkNecroptosis is a caspases-independent programmed cell death displaying intermediate features between necrosis and apoptosis. Albeit some physiological roles during embryonic development such tissue homeostasis and innate immune response are documented, necroptosis is mainly considered a pro-inflammatory cell death. Key actors of necroptosis are the receptor-interacting-protein-kinases, RIPK1 and RIPK3, and their target, the mixed-lineage-kinase-domain-like protein, MLKL. The intestinal epithelium has one of the highest rates of cellular turnover in a process that is tightly regulated. Altered necroptosis at the intestinal epithelium leads to uncontrolled microbial translocation and deleterious inflammation. Indeed, necroptosis plays a role in many disease conditions and inhibiting necroptosis is currently considered a promising therapeutic strategy. In this review, we focus on the molecular mechanisms of necroptosis as well as its involvement in human diseases. We also discuss the present developing therapies that target necroptosis machinery
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