• Development and Reproduction
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.231-238
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• 2019

Interleukin-8 (IL-8) is an inflammatory cytokine that plays an important role in the inflammatory response through the activation of neutrophil cells. The expression of IL-8 was investigated in early developmental stages of the olive flounder and in tissues of 8-month-old individuals. The expression of IL-8 increased after the initiation of the immune system rather than at the early stage of development, and high expression was observed in the gills and spleen, the organs associated with immunity and metabolism. In addition, IL-8 expression after infection by viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus significantly increased in the fin, gill, muscles, and spleen. These results suggest that IL-8 is closely related to inflammation and immune regulation in the immune response of the olive flounder and may be used as a basis for studies on the immune systems of other fish.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.726-732
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• 2021

In this study, we evaluated the immune-enhancing activity of kimchi-derived Lactobacillus plantarum 200655 on immune suppression by cyclophosphamide (CP) in ICR mice. Animals were fed distilled water or 1×10⁹ colony-forming unit/kg B.W. 200655 or Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG as a positive control for 14 days. An in vivo model of immunosuppression was induced using CP 150 and 100 mg/kg B.W. at 7 and 10 days, respectively. Body weight, spleen index, spleen weight, and gene expression were measured to estimate the immune-enhancing effects. The dead 200655 (D-200655) group showed an increased spleen weight compared to the sham control (SC) group. Similarly, the spleen index was significantly higher than that in the CP-treated group. The live 200655 (L-200655) group showed an increased mRNA expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin (IL)-6 in splenocytes. Also, the iNOS and COX-2 mRNA expression was upregulated in the L-200655 group compared to the CP-only (SC) group. The phosphorylation of ERK and MAPK was also upmodulated in the L-200655 group. These results indicate that L. plantarum 200655 ameliorated CP-induced immune suppression, suggesting that L. plantarum 200655 may have the potential to enhance the immune system.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.217-225
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• 2006

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) RTA transcription factor is recruited to its responsive elements through interaction with RBP-Jk that is a downstream transcription factor of the Notch signaling pathway that is important in development and cell fate determination. This suggests that KSHV RTA mimics cellular Notch signal transduction to activate viral lytic gene expression. Here, I demonstrated that unlike other B lymphoma cells, KSHV -infected primary effusion lymphoma BCBL1 cells displayed the constitutive activation of ligand-mediated Notch signal transduction, evidenced by the Jagged ligand expression and the complete proteolytic process of Notch receptor I. In order to investigate the effect of Notch signal transduction on KSHV gene expression, human Notch intracellular (hNIC) domain that constitutively activates RBP-Jk transcription factor activity was expressed in BCBL1 cells, TRExBCBL1-hNIC, in a tetracycline inducible manner. Gene expression profiling showed that like RTA, hNIC robustly induced expression of a number of viral genes including KS immune modulatory gene resulting in downregulation of MHC I and CD54 surface expression. Finally, the genetic analysis of KSHV genome demonstrated that the hNIC-mediated expression of KS during viral latency consequently conferred the downregulation of MHC I and CD54 surface expression. These results indicate that cellular. Notch signal transduction provides a novel expression profiling of KSHV immune deregulatory gene that consequently confers the escape of host immune surveillance during viral latency.

• BMB Reports
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.431-436
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• 2021

In recent years, restoring anti-tumor immunity has garnered a growing interest in cancer treatment. As potential therapeutics, immune checkpoint inhibitors have demonstrated benefits in many clinical studies. Although various methods have been applied to suppress immune checkpoints to boost anti-tumor immunity, including the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors, there are still unmet clinical needs to improve the response rate of cancer treatment. Here, we show that acetate can suppress the expression of poliovirus receptor (PVR/CD155), a ligand for immune checkpoint, in colon cancer cells. We demonstrated that acetate treatment could enhance effector responses of CD8⁺ T cells by decreasing the expression of PVR/CD155 in cancer cells. We also found that acetate could reduce the expression of PVR/CD155 by deactivating the PI3K/AKT pathway. These results demonstrate that acetate-mediated expression of PVR/CD155 in cancer cells might potentiate the anti-tumor immunity in the microenvironment of cancer. Our findings indicate that maintaining particular acetate concentrations could be a complementary strategy in current cancer treatment.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.452-461
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• 2023

Hypertension caused by high-fat and high-salt diets is is a well-known significant risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. In this study, to confirm the relationship between hypertension and immune cells, angiotensin (Ang) II was administered to Dahl salt-sensitive (SS) rats and Dahl salt-resistant (SR) rats. Then the expression of immune cells and the proinflammatory cytokines were compared between the SS and SR rats. It was observed that after administration of Ang II (50ng/kg/min) for three weeks, blood pressure was increased in the SS rats, but there was no significant change in the SR rats. In addition, the expression of T helper (Th) cells and Th 17 cells in the spleen and the expression of Th cell Rorγt and regulatory T regulatory (Treg) cells in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells did not show a significant difference between the two experimental groups even after the administration of Ang II.IL-1β expression was significantly increased in the kidney tissue of the SS rats, while there was no significant difference in the IL-6 expression in all the experimental groups. The results of this study suggest that Ang II induces hypertension by stimulating IL-1β secretion from renal macrophage in SS rats.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.44-49
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• 2015

Interactions between microbes and epithelial cells in the gastrointestinal tract are closely associated with regulation of intestinal mucosal immune responses. Recent studies have highlighted the modulation of mucosal immunity by microbe-derived molecules such as ATP and short-chain fatty acids. In this study, we undertook to characterize the expression of the ATP-gated $P2X_7$ receptor ($P2X_7R$) on M cells and its role in gastrointestinal mucosal immune regulation because it was poorly characterized in Peyer's patches, although purinergic signaling via $P2X_7R$ and luminal ATP have been considered to play an important role in the gastrointestinal tract. Here, we present the first report on the expression of $P2X_7R$ on M cells and characterize the role of $P2X_7R$ in immune enhancement by ATP or LL-37.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.12-23
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• 2023

Sargassum horneri (SH), a brown macroalgae, has medicinal properties. The present study investigated the immune-enhancing effects of SH extract on peritoneal macrophages (PM). The SH significantly increased the production of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and nitric oxide (NO) in PM. It was confirmed that SH significantly increased NO expression through the increase of iNOS protein expression, which is the up-regulation pathway. Additionally, it was determined if SH activates the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, an upper regulatory mechanism that influences TNF-α, IL-6, and NO expression. Consequently, SH significantly increased the phosphorylation of p38, extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK), and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), all of which are MAPK pathway proteins. Moreover, the immune-enhancing effects of SH on another macrophage cell line, bone marrow-derived macrophages were investigated. It was observed that SH significantly enhanced TNF-α, IL-6, and NO production. Overall, this study demonstrates the immune-enhancing effects of SH on macrophages via activated MAPK pathway. Therefore, it suggests that SH has the potential to improve immunological activity in various macrophage cell lines and can be useful as an immune-enhancing treatment.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.701-707
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• 2012

Immune stress is the loss of immune homeostasis caused by external forces. The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the effects of immune stress on the growth performance, small intestinal enzymes and peristalsis rate, and mRNA expression of nutrient transporters in broiler chickens. Four hundred and thirty-two 1-d-old broilers (Cobb500) were randomly assigned to four groups for treatment; each group included nine cages with 12 birds per cage. Group 1 = no vaccine (NV); Group 2 = conventional vaccine (CV); group 3 = lipopolysaccharide (LPS)+conventional vaccine (LPS); group 4 = cyclophosphamide (CYP)+conventional vaccine (CYP). The results demonstrated that immune stress by LPS and CYP reduced body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), small intestine peristalsis rate and sIgA content in small intestinal digesta (p<0.05). However, the feed conversion ratio (FCR) remained unchanged during the feeding period. LPS and CYP increased intestinal enzyme activity, relative expression of SGLT-1, CaBP-D28k and L-FABP mRNAs (p<0.05). LPS and CYP injection had a negative effect on the growth performance of healthy broiler chickens. The present study demonstrated that NV and CV could improve growth performance while enzyme activity in small intestine and relative expression of nutrient transporter mRNA of NV and CV were decreased in the conditions of a controlled rational feeding environment. It is generally recommended that broilers only need to be vaccinated for the diseases to which they might be exposed.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.123-127
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• 2014

Interleukin-32 (IL-32) is a cytokine inducing crucial inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}(TNF{\alpha})$ and IL-6 and its expression is elevated in various inflammatory autoimmune diseases, certain cancers, as well as viral infections. IL-32 gene was first cloned from activated T cells, however IL-32 expression was also found in other immune cells and non-immune cells. IL-32 gene was identified in most mammals except rodents. It is transcribed as multiple-spliced variants in the absence of a specific activity of each isoform. IL-32 has been studied mostly in clinical fields such as infection, autoimmune, cancer, vascular disease, and pulmonary diseases. It is difficult to investigate the precise role of IL-32 in vivo due to the absence of IL-32 gene in mouse. The lack of mouse IL-32 gene restricts in vivo studies and restrains further development of IL-32 research in clinical applications although IL-32 new cytokine getting a spotlight as an immune regulatory molecule processing important roles in autoimmune, infection, and cancer. In this review, we discuss the regulation and function of IL-32 in inflammatory bowel diseases and rheumatoid arthritis.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.4.1-4.16
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• 2019

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are non-protein coding RNAs of more than 200 nucleotides in length. Despite the term "noncoding", lncRNAs have been reported to be involved in gene expression. Accumulating evidence suggests that lncRNAs play crucial roles in the regulation of immune system and the development of autoimmunity. lncRNAs are expressed in various immune cells including T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, dendritic cells, and NK cells, and are also involved in the differentiation and activation of these immune cells. Here, we review recent studies on the role of lncRNAs in immune regulation and the differential expression of lncRNAs in various autoimmune diseases.