Pro-inflammatory Cytokines, Biomarkers, Genetics and the Immune System: A Mechanistic Approach of Depression and Psoriasis

The pathogenesis of an increasing number of chronic diseases is being attributed to effects of the immune system. However, its role in the development and maintenance of anorexia nervosa is seemingly under-appreciated. Yet, in examining the available research on the immune system and genetic studies in anorexia nervosa, one becomes increasingly suspicious of the immune system’s potential role in the pathophysiology of anorexia nervosa. Specifically, research is suggestive of increased levels of various pro-inflammatory cytokines as well as the spontaneous production of tumor necrosis factor in anorexia nervosa; genetic studies further support a dysregulated immune system in this disorder. Potential contributors to this dysregulated immune system are discussed including increased oxidative stress, chronic physiological/psychological stress, changes in the intestinal microbiota, and an abnormal bone marrow microenvironment, all of which are present in anorexia nervosa.

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A pronounced uterine pro-inflammatory response at parturition is an ancient feature in mammals

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2017.1694 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 284 (1865) ◽

pp. 20171694 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Victoria L. Hansen ◽

Lauren S. Faber ◽

Ali A. Salehpoor ◽

Robert D. Miller

Keyword(s):

Immune System ◽

Inflammatory Response ◽

Inflammatory Cytokines ◽

Immune Regulation ◽

Monodelphis Domestica ◽

Immune Gene ◽

Invasive Placenta ◽

Gene Transcripts ◽

Pro Inflammatory Cytokines

Regulating maternal immunity is necessary for successful human pregnancy. Whether this is needed in mammals with less invasive placentation is subject to debate. Indeed, the short gestation times in marsupials have been hypothesized to be due to a lack of immune regulation during pregnancy. Alternatively, the maternal marsupial immune system may be unstimulated in the absence of a highly invasive placenta. Transcripts encoding pro-inflammatory cytokines were found to be overrepresented in the whole uterine transcriptome at terminal pregnancy in the opossum, Monodelphis domestica . To investigate this further, immune gene transcripts were quantified throughout opossum gestation. Transcripts encoding pro-inflammatory cytokines remained relatively low during pre- and peri-attachment pregnancy stages. Levels dramatically increased late in gestation, peaking within 12 h prior to parturition. These results mirror the spike of inflammation seen at eutherian parturition but not at attachment or implantation. Our results are consistent with the role of pro-inflammatory cytokines at parturition being an ancient and conserved birth mechanism in therian mammals.

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Stable expression ratios of five pyroptosis-inducing cytokines in the spleen and thymus of mice showed potential immune regulation at the organ level

Lupus ◽

10.1177/0961203320903802 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 290-302

Author(s):

H Fan ◽

S Zhang ◽

N Li ◽

P Fan ◽

X Hu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus ◽

Immune System ◽

Inflammatory Cytokines ◽

Lupus Erythematosus ◽

Immune Regulation ◽

Interleukin 18 ◽

Systemic Lupus ◽

Tnf Α ◽

Organ Level ◽

Pro Inflammatory Cytokines

Background The immune system is one of the most complex regulatory systems in the body and is essential for the maintenance of homeostasis. Despite recent breakthroughs in immunology, the regulation of the immune system and the etiology of autoimmune diseases such as lupus remain unclear. Systemic lupus erythematosus is a systemic autoimmune disease with abnormally and inconsistently expressed pro-inflammatory cytokines. Pyroptosis is a pro-inflammatory form of programmed cell death that is associated with systemic lupus erythematosus. The thymus and spleen are important immune organs involved in systemic lupus erythematosus. Therefore, this study investigated the difference in expression of pyroptosis-inducing pro-inflammatory cytokines between the spleen and thymus in lupus model mice and in control mice, to describe immune regulation at the organ level. Objective To investigate differences in the expression of pyroptosis-inducing cytokines in the spleen and thymus and to explore immune regulatory networks at the organ level. Methods Two groups of lupus mice and two groups of control mice were utilized for this study. Using the thymus and spleen of experimental animals, mRNA expression levels of five pyroptosis-inducing cytokines (interleukin 1β, interleukin 18, NLRP3, caspase-1 and TNF-α) were determined via quantitative polymerase chain reaction. In addition, tissue distribution of these cytokines was investigated via immunohistochemistry. Results All five pyroptosis-inducing inflammatory cytokines showed higher expression in the spleen than in the thymus ( p < 0.05). Moreover, the spleen/thymus expression ratios of all five pyroptosis-inducing cytokines were not statistically different between the four experimental groups. Expression of all five cytokines exhibited a stable ratio (spleen/thymus ratios). This distinctive stable spleen/thymus ratio was consistent in all four experimental groups. The stable spleen/thymus ratios of the five inflammatory cytokines were as follows: interleukin 1β (2.02 ± 0.9), interleukin 18 (2.07 ± 1.06), caspase-1 (1.93 ± 0.66), NLRP3 (3.14 ± 1.61) and TNF-α (3.16 ± 1.36). Immunohistochemical analysis showed the cytokines were mainly expressed in the red pulp region of the spleen and the medullary region of the thymus, where immune-activated cells aggregated. Conclusion The stable spleen/thymus expression ratios of pyroptosis-inducing cytokines indicated that immune organs exhibit strictly regulated functions to maintain immune homeostasis and adapt to the environment.

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Ovarian cancer and inflammation. Part 1. Pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Progress in Health Sciences ◽

10.5604/01.3001.0012.1329 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 194-201

Author(s):

KM. Terlikowska ◽

MA. Strzyż-Skalij ◽

K. Kryński ◽

M. Osmólska ◽

Z. Łada ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ovarian Cancer ◽

Immune Response ◽

Immune System ◽

Immune Responses ◽

Cause Of Death ◽

Inflammatory Cytokines ◽

Gynecologic Malignancies ◽

Cancer Tumor ◽

Cancer And Inflammation ◽

Pro Inflammatory Cytokines

Ovarian cancer is the most threatening cause of death among gynecologic malignancies and represents the fifth leading cause of death from all cancers for women. Research reveals that ovarian cancer patients exhibit significant immune responses against the tumor. In this review of the current literature chiefly the interaction of ovarian cancer tumor cells and the immune system is discussed. There is increasingly growing evidence that pro-inflammatory cytokines are involved in intricate complex of mechanisms responsible for tumorigenesis, and delicate balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines is critical for the antitumor host immune response.

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Theoretical Accounts of Gulf War Syndrome: From Environmental Toxins to Psychoneuroimmunology and Neurodegeneration

Behavioural Neurology ◽

10.1155/2002/418758 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 13 (3-4) ◽

pp. 133-147 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Eamonn Ferguson ◽

Helen J. Cassaday

Keyword(s):

Immune System ◽

Inflammatory Cytokines ◽

Interleukin 1 ◽

Chronic Fatigue ◽

Gulf War ◽

T Helper 1 ◽

Gulf War Syndrome ◽

Fatigue Syndrome ◽

Pro Inflammatory Cytokines ◽

Specific Illness

Non-specific illness includes a wide variety of symptoms: behavioural (e.g., reduced food and water intake), cognitive (e.g., memory and concentration problems) and physiological (e.g., fever). This paper reviews evidence suggesting that such symptoms can be explained more parsimoniously as a single symptom cluster than as a set of separate illnesses such as Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). This superordinate syndrome could have its biological basis in the activity of pro-inflammatory cytokines (in particular interleukin-1: IL-1), that give rise to what has become known as the ‘sickness response’. It is further argued that the persistence of non-specific illness in chronic conditions like GWS may be (in part) attributable to a bio-associative mechanism (Ferguson and Cassaday, 1999). In the case of GWS, physiological challenges could have produced a non-specific sickness response that became associated with smells (e.g., petrol), coincidentally experienced in the Persian Gulf. On returning to the home environment, these same smells would act as associative triggers for the maintenance of (conditioned) sickness responses. Such associative mechanisms could be mediated through the hypothalamus and limbic system via vagal nerve innervation and would provide an explanation for the persistence of a set of symptoms (e.g., fever) that should normally be short lived and self-limiting. We also present evidence that the pattern of symptoms produced by the pro-inflammatory cytokines reflects a shift in immune system functioning towards a (T-helper-1) Th1 profile. This position contrasts with other immunological accounts of GWS that suggest that the immune system demonstrates a shift to a Th2 (allergy) profile. Evidence pertaining to these two contrasting positions is reviewed.

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Influence of environmental stress on immunity of swine

Medycyna Weterynaryjna ◽

10.21521/mw.5578 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 72 (10) ◽

pp. 595-599

Author(s):

Zygmunt Pejsak ◽

Marian Truszczyński

Keyword(s):

Immune System ◽

Inflammatory Cytokines ◽

Immune Cells ◽

Management Practices ◽

Acute Phase Proteins ◽

Pathogenic Microorganisms ◽

Environmental Management Practices ◽

Chain Link ◽

Microbial Environment ◽

Pro Inflammatory Cytokines

This paper deals with pigs kept in environments, where they are exposed to a high number of pathogenic microbes and have reduced feed intake and growth, even when no obvious acute illness exists. According to the presented article this chronic drain on production is called immunologic stress. Sentinel immune cells (e.g. macrophages) supervise the diverse microbial environment by detecting pathogen – associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), which are molecules associated with groups of pathogens. The immune sentinels detect PAMPs mainly with Toll – like receptors (TLRs). Stimulation of macrophages through their TLRs leads to the synthesis and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and prostaglandins, initiating the inflammatory response that recruits both immune molecules and circulating immune cells. Pro-inflammatory cytokines enable the immune system to communicate with other physiological systems. They rearrange the animal’s metabolic priorities, resulting in re-partitioning of nutrients away from productive processes towards responses that support the immune system. Thus, the immune system, through detection of PAMPs and production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, is the critical chain link connecting the pathogenic environment to productivity. The evaluation indicates, that at maintenance a healthy animal uses about 0,5-2% of the body’s lysine for leucocytes, antibodies and acute phase proteins. In the situation of contamination by pathogens of the environment the immune response is estimated to account for about 9% of the body’s lysine. Providing additional lysine in the diet does not improve the reduced growth of the pig, caused by immunologic stress as the result of contamination of the pig environment by pathogenic or facultatively pathogenic microorganisms. Thus, minimizing exposure to pathogenic microorganisms and providing sound environmental management practices is a high priority.

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Vaccination against the Protozoan Parasite Histomonas meleagridis Primes the Activation of Toll-like Receptors in Turkeys and Chickens Determined by a Set of Newly Developed Multiplex RT-qPCRs

Vaccines ◽

10.3390/vaccines9090960 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (9) ◽

pp. 960

Author(s):

Taniya Mitra ◽

Beatrice Bramberger ◽

Ivana Bilic ◽

Michael Hess ◽

Dieter Liebhart

Keyword(s):

Immune System ◽

Inflammatory Cytokines ◽

Host Species ◽

Innate Immune System ◽

Innate Immune ◽

Post Inoculation ◽

Avian Host ◽

Toll Like Receptors ◽

Immune System Activation ◽

Pro Inflammatory Cytokines

Histomonosis in turkeys and chickens is caused by the extracellular parasite Histomonas meleagridis, but the outcome of the disease varies depending on the host species. So far, studies on the immune response against histomonosis focus mainly on different traits of the adaptive immune system. Activation of toll like receptors (TLR) leads to the interplay between cells of innate and adaptive immunity with consequences on B and T cell clonal expansion. Therefore, the present investigation focused on the interaction of virulent and/or attenuated histomonads with the innate immune system of turkeys and chickens at 4, 10, 21 days post inoculation. The expression of TLRs (TLR1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3, 4, 5, 6(Tu), 7, 13(Tu) and 21(Ch)) and pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL1β and IL6) were analysed in caecum and spleen samples by RT-qPCR. Most frequent significant changes in expression levels of TLRs were observed in the caecum following infection with virulent parasites, an effect noticed to a lower degree in tissue samples from birds vaccinated with attenuated parasites. TLR1B, 2B and 4 showed a continuous up-regulation in the caecum of both species during infection or vaccination, followed by challenge with virulent parasites. Vaccinated birds of both species showed a significant earlier change in TLR expression following challenge than birds kept non-vaccinated but challenged. Expression of TLRs and pro-inflammatory cytokines were associated with severe inflammation of diseased birds in the local organ caecum. In the spleen, changes in TLRs and pro-inflammatory cytokines were less prominent and mainly observed in turkey samples. In conclusion, a detailed comparison of TLRs and pro-inflammatory cytokines of the innate immune system following inoculation with attenuated and/or virulent H. meleagridis of two avian host species provides an insight into regulative mechanisms of TLRs in the development of protection and limitation of the disease.

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Culture System for a Closer Biological Contact Between Macrophages and Microparticles

Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering ◽

10.3389/fmech.2021.631128 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

Author(s):

Haruki Miyamoto ◽

Katsunori Higuchi ◽

Yuta Nakashima ◽

Yukio Fujiwara ◽

Yoshihiro Komohara ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Immune System ◽

Inflammatory Cytokines ◽

Culture System ◽

Culture Medium ◽

Fine Particles ◽

System A ◽

Cell Culturing ◽

Administration Time ◽

Culture Environment

To investigate the effects of microparticles on the immune system, a device was designed for an optimal culture environment. Macrophages phagocytose microparticles and produce inflammatory cytokines. In a culture environment in which macrophages phagocytose microparticles mixed in a culture medium, it remains unclear whether the macrophages can physically access all the microparticles present in the culture medium. In the culturing of fine particles, such as microparticles, it is necessary to devise methods that can realize a close biological contact between the macrophages and the microparticles. To enable macrophages to appropriately phagocytose microparticles, a microchamber with a glenoid hole for cell culturing was designed and manufactured. To clarify the effects of the size, administration amount, and administration time of the microparticles on the production of inflammatory cytokines, a system that can continuously deliver and collect the culture medium was introduced. The results obtained using these systems helped clarify the aforementioned effects. Our study confirms the possibility of employing a system that can optimally adjust the biological contact between macrophages and microparticles in a culture environment.

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