WU LI¹, JIANGZHE SI², SHUAI QIU², JING LUO¹, HUIQIONG SUN¹, XIAOQING LI¹, ZHIBIN WAN¹, WEI GAO¹, HANLU ZOU¹, LEI ZHANG², XIAOHONG XIANG³, YANZHANG LI², TIESHAN TENG^2,*

BIOCELL, Vol.44, No.4, pp. 695-701, 2020, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2020.011941 - 24 December 2020

Abstract The rapid emergence of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant Tuberculosis retrieved intense interest in phage-based therapy. This old approach, which was abandoned in the west in the 1940s but is generating renewed interest, has stimulated fresh research on mycobacteriophages and their lytic efficiency against their hosts. GP30 is a novel protein of the mycobacteriophage CASbig with undiscovered function. In this study, we analyzed the role of CASbig gp30 in the host Mycobacterium smegmatis. Overexpression of gp30 in the host led to reduced growth in acidic medium and attenuated the intracellular survival rate of M. smegmatis inside the THP-1 More >

DONG ZHAO, QIANG JI^*, SHIJIE ZHU, KAI ZHU, CHUNSHENG WANG^*

BIOCELL, Vol.44, No.3, pp. 315-321, 2020, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2020.09169 - 22 September 2020

Abstract Except for the standard aortic valve replacement, no effective medical treatment is available to prevent or delay calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) progression. Recently, macrophages and high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) are the most intriguing candidates in various inflammatory disorders. However, the association between serum HMGB1, CAVD, and macrophage polarization remains unclear. Therefore, we examined whether the level of serum HMGB1 is clinically associated with aortic valve calcification and whether HMGB1 treatment can promote macrophage differentiation toward M1 or M2 phenotype. This experimental study included 19 CAVD patients and 20 healthy controls whose serum HMGB1 More >

YAQUN HONG^1,2, BO WAN³, XIAOFAN LI^1,4,*

BIOCELL, Vol.44, No.2, pp. 237-246, 2020, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2020.08887 - 27 May 2020

Abstract Most studies focus on the adaptive immune cells in the GVHD pathogenesis, while little is known about innate immune cells in GVHD occurrence and development, especially macrophages. Meanwhile, a higher incidence of graft versus host disease (GVHD) is also found in the elderly patients. Though advances have been made in the modification of macrophages influenced by the inflamm-ageing, there is still no review on the role of macrophages in GVHD and the association between GVHD and the altered macrophages by inflamm-ageing. In this review, we focus on the potential age-related modifications of macrophage in GVHD, More >

Wei LI, Huihui GAO, Ran TAO, Lifang LIU, Shiqiang SHANG^*

BIOCELL, Vol.43, No.4, pp. 285-291, 2019, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2019.08177

Abstract As a response factor of interferon, tripartite motif (TRIM) 22 was reported to exert antiviral activity against viruses. In this study, THP-1 macrophages were infected with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) to establish the HCMV lytic infection model. The mRNA levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interferonbeta (IFN-β) were significantly up-regulated in THP-1 macrophages at different infection time and titers. Moreover, for the first time, upregulation of TRIM22 expression was found during HCMV infection at both mRNA and protein levels in THP-1 macrophages. Furthermore, IFN-β could induce TRIM22 expression in THP-1 macrophages or HCMV More >

Sufang Wang^1,2, Wenjuan Zhao^1,2, Guolin Shi^1,2, Nu Zhang^1,2, Chen Zhang^1,2, Hui Yang^1,2,*

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.16, Suppl.2, pp. 100-100, 2019, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2019.07112

Abstract Long-term space flight will be a major mission for International Space Administration. However, it has been shown that exposure to space flight result in immune system dysfunction. Therefore, understand the mechanism of immune response under microgravity condition is a key topic. Macrophage is one of the most important immune cells in human body, playing key roles in both innate and adaptive immune systems. In this research, we used mouse macrophages (RAW264.7) and collected samples at short-term (8 hour), mediate-term (24 hour) and long-term (48 hour) microgravity treatment. We measured cell proliferation, phagocytosis function and used More >

Lili Dong¹, Yang Song^1,*, Li Yang^1,*

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.16, Suppl.2, pp. 78-78, 2019, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2019.07130

Abstract It has been widely recognized that stem cells possess the potential of osteogenic differentiation, which greatly contribute to bone repair. Recently, accumulating evidences have indicated that mechanical cues are required for bone repair ^[1,2]. However, how local and recruited stem cells in the bone architecture receive the mechanical signals is poorly understood ^[3,4]. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that macrophages potentially transduce the mechanical signals for stem cell osteogenic lineage. This demonstration has been carried out through a co-culture system to investigate the effect of macrophages which subjected to cyclic stretch on the… More >

Ting Liu¹, Fang Liu¹, Lei-Wen Peng, Li Chang, Yong-Mei Jiang

Oncology Research, Vol.26, No.5, pp. 817-826, 2018, DOI:10.3727/096504017X15130753659625

Abstract Peritoneal macrophages (PMs) are the major cell type of peritoneal cells that participate in multiple aspects of innate and acquired immunity in the peritoneal cavity. PMs have an ability to release a large amount of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines and therefore play a critical role in regulating the differentiation of innate immune cells and inflammatory T cells. Accumulating studies demonstrate that the immunological reactions and inflammatory responses of PMs are strongly related to the pathogenic processes of various inflammatory diseases and abdominal cancers. Consequently, the regulation of PM activation has gradually emerged as a promising More >

Juan Sun^a, Wei Guo^a, Xingguang Du

European Cytokine Network, Vol.28, No.2, pp. 85-92, 2017, DOI:10.1684/ecn.2017.0392

Abstract Background: As a partial μ-opioid receptor agonist with long half-life time, buprenorphine has been widely used to relieve chronic cancer and nonmalignant pain. The maintenance of chronic pain involves inflammation; however whether buprenorphine has anti-inflammation property remains unclear. Methods: Macrophages, the immune cells that initiate and maintain inflammation, were isolated from human umbilical cord blood, and were polarized into M1 or M2 macrophages with IFN-γ in the presence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or IL-4, respectively. Quantitative PCR, ELISA, Western blotting analysis, and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays were employed to characterize M1 and M2 macrophages. Results: 1) Buprenorphine… More >

Alba Martínez^1,2, Cristina Bono^1,2, Javier Megías³, Alberto Yánez˜^4,5, Daniel Gozalbo^1,2, M. Luisa Gil^1,2

European Cytokine Network, Vol.28, No.3, pp. 102-110, 2017, DOI:10.1684/ecn.2017.0398

Abstract Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists drive hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) to differentiate along the myeloid lineage in vitro and also in vivo following infection. In this study, we used an in vitro model of HSPC differentiation to investigate the functional consequences (cytokine production) that exposing HSPCs to various pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and Candida albicans cells have on the subsequently derived macrophages. Mouse HSPCs (Lin– cells) were cultured with GM-CSF to induce macrophage differentiation in the presence or absence of the following pattern recognition receptor (PRR) agonists: Pam₃CSK₄ (TLR2 ligand), LPS (TLR4 ligand), depleted zymosan (which only activates Dectin-1),… More >

Kefeng Liu^{1,2, §}, Zhengyu Zhang^{1,3, §}, Ting Pei¹, Ziqing Li⁴, Jingjing Wang¹, Hong Wang¹, Suning Ping¹, Lie Deng¹, Linli Wang¹, Jintao Huang⁵, Puyi Sheng⁴, Shuying Liu¹, Chaohong Li¹

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.14, No.2, pp. 101-123, 2017, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2017.014.099

Abstract This study was designed to investigate the effects of mechanical (MS) and/or oxidized low-density lipoprotein on proliferation and apoptosis of RAW264.7 macrophages and the underlying mechanisms. The cultured quiescent RAW264.7 macrophages were subject to stimulation with MS and/or in the presence or absence of simvastatin and then harvested for Western blot, and immunoflourecence. Either MS or alone could cause increase in cell proliferation and apoptosis, while their combination led to an additive effect. In terms of mechanisms, MS and/or significantly increased phosphorylation levels of MAPKs (ERKs, JNKs and p38MAPK), promoted the reactive oxygen species (ROS) More >