The Effect of Phytochemical Extracts on Cytokine Gene Expression

Author(s):  
Elena Vladimirovna Mashkina ◽  
Aziz Alkhaddour

Background: In the last century, nutritional supplements have shown a wide spectrum of biochemical effects, most notably about immunomodulation and countering inflammation. Objective: This study investigates the impact of phytochemical compounds that are present in different quantities of pomegranate, grape seeds and garlic extracts on the expression of inflammatory (IL1β and IL6) and anti-inflammatory (IL10) genes, the effects of polymorphisms in these genes on this response. Methods: Human peripheral blood leukocyte cultures were treated with pomegranate (1.2% or 2.4%), garlic (0.5% or 1.2%), or grape seed (1.2% or 2.4%) extracts. Gene expression was assessed with real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Polymorphisms of the cytokine genes were analyzed using allele-specific PCR. Results: Pomegranate extract (2.4%) reduced the transcription of IL1β by 16-fold in comparison to control. The expression of IL6 relative to the control after the addition of grape seed extract (1.2%) was reduced by 100-fold. The grape seeds extract (1.2%) showed the effect of increasing transcription for IL10 compared to the control. The level of IL1β transcription in culture with garlic extract depends on the genotype of the cell for -31T>C polymorphism (r = 0.67 p = 0.03). There is correlation between polymorphism -174G>C and level gene expression IL6 (r=-0.66, p = 0.04) after adding grape seeds extract. Conclusion: The phytochemical compounds in pomegranate extracts and grape seed extracts play the role of anti-inflammatory by decreasing the gene expression of IL1β, IL6 and increasing the transcription of IL10.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pengchao Ye ◽  
Wenbin Ye ◽  
Congting Ye ◽  
Shuchao Li ◽  
Lishan Ye ◽  
...  

Abstract Motivation Single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) is fast and becoming a powerful technique for studying dynamic gene regulation at unprecedented resolution. However, scRNA-seq data suffer from problems of extremely high dropout rate and cell-to-cell variability, demanding new methods to recover gene expression loss. Despite the availability of various dropout imputation approaches for scRNA-seq, most studies focus on data with a medium or large number of cells, while few studies have explicitly investigated the differential performance across different sample sizes or the applicability of the approach on small or imbalanced data. It is imperative to develop new imputation approaches with higher generalizability for data with various sample sizes. Results We proposed a method called scHinter for imputing dropout events for scRNA-seq with special emphasis on data with limited sample size. scHinter incorporates a voting-based ensemble distance and leverages the synthetic minority oversampling technique for random interpolation. A hierarchical framework is also embedded in scHinter to increase the reliability of the imputation for small samples. We demonstrated the ability of scHinter to recover gene expression measurements across a wide spectrum of scRNA-seq datasets with varied sample sizes. We comprehensively examined the impact of sample size and cluster number on imputation. Comprehensive evaluation of scHinter across diverse scRNA-seq datasets with imbalanced or limited sample size showed that scHinter achieved higher and more robust performance than competing approaches, including MAGIC, scImpute, SAVER and netSmooth. Availability and implementation Freely available for download at https://github.com/BMILAB/scHinter. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-ève Labonté ◽  
Patrick Couture ◽  
André J Tremblay ◽  
Jean-Charles Hogue ◽  
Valéry Lemelin ◽  
...  

Recent evidence suggests that diet-induced inflammation in the small intestine is linked to obesity and insulin resistance. Long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCn-3PUFA) such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects by down-regulating inflammatory gene expression in adipocytes and mononuclear cells. However, the extent to which EPA and DHA may exert their anti-inflammatory effects by down-regulating inflammation in the gut is unknown. The objective of the study was to investigate the impact of EPA+DHA supplementation on the expression of inflammatory genes in the small intestine of patients with type 2 diabetes. A total of 12 men with type 2 diabetes were recruited in this placebo-controlled randomized crossover study. After a 4-week run-in period, patients received in random sequence 5 g/d of fish oil providing 3 g of EPA+DHA or placebo (corn and soybean oil) for 8 weeks, each separated by a 12-week washout period. Gene expression was assessed by real-time PCR in duodenal biopsy samples obtained in the fasted state at the end of each treatment phase. Intestinal mRNA expression levels for interleukin(IL)-6 and tumor-necrosis factor(TNF)-α were hardly detectable after either treatment (< 100 copies/10^5 copies of the reference gene ATP synthase O subunit, ATP5o). Intestinal mRNA expression of IL-18 and of the transcription factor STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3) was higher (> 5000 copies/10^5 copies ATP5o) but still relatively low and EPA+DHA supplementation had no impact on any of these levels (P ≥ 0.73 between treatments). Plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations after supplementation with EPA+DHA (5.2 ± 4.5 mg/L) were not significantly different than values measured after placebo (8.0 ± 10.8 mg/L, P = 0.2). In conclusion, these data suggest that gene expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and STAT3 in duodenal cells is low in patients with type 2 diabetes and not affected by EPA+DHA supplementation.


2015 ◽  
Vol 308 (12) ◽  
pp. R1062-R1069 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer E. Dumaine ◽  
Noah T. Ashley

Sleep deprivation induces acute inflammation and increased glucocorticosteroids in vertebrates, but effects from fragmented, or intermittent, sleep are poorly understood. Considering the latter is more representative of sleep apnea in humans, we investigated changes in proinflammatory (IL-1β, TNF-α) and anti-inflammatory (TGF-β1) cytokine gene expression in the periphery (liver, spleen, fat, and heart) and brain (hypothalamus, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus) of a murine model exposed to varying intensities of sleep fragmentation (SF). Additionally, serum corticosterone was assessed. Sleep was disrupted in male C57BL/6J mice using an automated sleep fragmentation chamber that moves a sweeping bar at specified intervals (Lafayette Industries). Mice were exposed to bar sweeps every 20 s (high sleep fragmentation, HSF), 120 s (low sleep fragmentation, LSF), or the bar remained stationary (control). Trunk blood and tissue samples were collected after 24 h of SF. We predicted that HSF mice would exhibit increased proinflammatory expression, decreased anti-inflammatory expression, and elevated stress hormones in relation to LSF and controls. SF significantly elevated IL-1β gene expression in adipose tissue, heart (HSF only), and hypothalamus (LSF only) relative to controls. SF did not increase TNF-α expression in any of the tissues measured. HSF increased TGF-β1 expression in the hypothalamus and hippocampus relative to other groups. Serum corticosterone concentration was significantly different among groups, with HSF mice exhibiting the highest, LSF intermediate, and controls with the lowest concentration. This indicates that 24 h of SF is a potent inducer of inflammation and stress hormones in the periphery, but leads to upregulation of anti-inflammatory cytokines in the brain.


Author(s):  
Mariam M. Al-Omari ◽  
Razan B. Al-Ghariebeh, Abed Alkarem Abu Alhaija ◽  
Heba Al- Zoubi ◽  
Khaled M. Al-Qaoud

Camel milk (CM) has got an increasing interest by traditional healers and medical practitioners in areas where camels are raised for their therapeutic potential. To investigate the potential activity of CM against cancer on scientific bases, azoxymethane (AOM)/Dextran Sodium Sulfate (DSS) colitis Balb/c mouse model of CRC was used and CM whey was given orally during disease development. Colitis associated symptoms and tumor development were followed during the experiment and at the day of termination. Pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine gene expression were quantified using qPCR. The results showed a significant effect for CM whey on the reduction of early stage development of CRC and colon inflammation symptoms, as revealed by enhanced weight gain, reduced bloody stool and diarrhea. A concurrent reduction in gene expression of the inflammatory cytokine IL-6 was evident in colon tissue of CM whey treated mice. Moreover, both IFN-γ and IL-8 gene expression was also significantly reduced in treated mice. On the contrary, the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-10 was elevated in colon tissues of CM treated mice. In addition, iNOS, a marker for inflamed mucosa was down-regulated in treated mice. A control bovine milk whey treated group showed similar effect on IL-8, IL-6 and iNOS gene expression, whereas an elevation in IFN-γ was noticed in this group. Our results indicate the potential activity of CM whey in reducing the development of CRC in mice mainly by reducing colitis induction by chemical stimuli. Whether the active substance responsible for this activity is single or combined deserves further investigation.


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