Background: Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that induces strong proinflammatory responses, such as IL-1β production. Much less is known about the induction of immune modulatory cytokines, such as the IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) that is the main natural antagonist of IL-1, by C. albicans. Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of healthy individuals were stimulated with C. albicans and different components of the fungal cell wall. The role of pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs) for the induction of IL-1β and IL-1Ra was investigated by using specific blockers or in PBMC from Dectin-1 deficient patients. Results: C. albicans induced a strong IL-1Ra response, and this induction was primarily induced by the cell-wall component β-glucan. Blocking IL-1Ra significantly increased C. albicans β-glucan hyphae induced IL-1β and IL-6 production. Surprisingly, blocking the β-glucan receptor Dectin-1 or the downstream Syk or Raf-1 pathways only marginally reduced C. albicans-induced IL-1Ra production, while blocking of the complement receptor 3 (CR3), TLR2 or TLR4 had no effect. In line with this, blocking MAP kinases had little effect on Candida-induced IL-1Ra production. PBMC isolated from Dectin-1 deficient patients produced normal IL-1Ra amounts in response to C. albicans stimulation. Interestingly, the IL-1Ra synthesis induced by β-glucan was blocked by inhibitors of the Akt/PI3. K pathway. Conclusions: β-glucan of C. albicans induces a strong IL-1Ra response, which is independent of the β-glucan receptors dectin-1 and CR3. These data strongly argue for the existence of an unknown β-glucan receptor that specifically induces an Akt/PI3. K-dependent anti-inflammatory IL-1Ra response upon recognition of C. albicans.

Purpose: Familial aggregation and sibling pair studies suggest there is a genetic contribution to the development of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The aim of this study was to review the evidence of genetics in IBS based on genetic epidemiology, studies of association with intermediate phenotypes and pharmacogenetics. Results: Genetic association studies with IBS symptom phenotype have generally provided inconsistent results for many candidate genes investigated, such as SLC6A4, GNB3, and IL-10. There have been no genome-wide association studies in IBS to date. Studies of associations of candidate genes with intermediate phenotypes suggest associations with pathophysiological mechanisms of motor and sensory functions; however, these results also require replication. Pharmacogenetics studies illustrate the potential of genetics to impact on response to therapy, as observed with SLC6A4 and responses to the 5-HT3 antagonist alosetron and the 5-HT4 agonist, tegaserod. Conclusions: While the heritable component and genetics in the complex disorder of IBS are still poorly understood, studies of the associations of spontaneous genetic variations and altered functions may provide novel insights of the mechanisms contributing to the disease.

Current therapies for the treatment of myocardial infarction and heart failure include medical, surgical, mechanical assist, and transplantation. These therapies have been based on the dogma that ventricular myocytes themselves are terminally differentiated and, therefore, cannot regenerate. This concept has been recently challenged with stem cell therapy. A potential problem is the ability of cardiac tissue to mobilize, recruit, and transdifferentiate adult stem cells from other tissues. We believe that there is a unique failure of the damaged myocardium to provide the appropriate molecular signals for stem cells engraftment related to age. Our hypothesis is that the overexpression of IL-10 in the aged population reduces cardiac cellular proliferation subsequent to myocardial injury. This hypothesis is supported by aging models, where elevated levels of IL-10 are associated with reduced healing response to noncardiac tissue injury. We demonstrated an increased cardiac gene expression of IL-10 that may be associated with a reduced proliferative response in the border regions of the infarcted myocardium that are proportional with age. In conclusion, myocardial infarction and heart failure has presented a significant challenge for the clinician to provide reparative therapies. The use of therapeutics to modulate IL-10 and, thereby, optimizing regenerative processes in the injured myocardium may provide a unique means for the cardiac patient.

BACKGROUND: Spondyloarthritis is a family of related inflammatory diseases including psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. The cytokine IL-23 is known to play an important role in spondyloarthritis development. Overexpression of IL-23 using IL-23 minicircle DNA in B10.RIII mice results in the development of a spondyloarthritis-like disease. B10.RIII is a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) congenic mouse strain that is susceptible to a number of autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases. Contaminating regions outside the congenic interval from the donor strain, RIII, have been previously detected. While B10.RIII mice develop collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) and collagen antibody induced arthritis (CAIA), the background strain, C57BL/10 (B10) does not. The MHC region is known to play a role in the susceptibility of B10.RIII mice to CIA, but not in CAIA development, so other regions must be involved in arthritis development as well. These contaminating RIII-derived regions may control susceptibility to IL-23 minicircle induced arthritis in B10.RIII mice. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify RIII-derived regions in the genome of B10.RIII mice and begin to interrogate their effects on IL-23 minicircle induced arthritis. METHODS: A systematic literature review was conducted using Pubmed and Web of Science. Articles using B10.RIII mice to study inflammatory disease models were included and data about year of publication, inbred mouse strains used, disease model, and inbred strain notation were extracted. Genome sequences of B10.RIII(71NS)/Sn, C57BL/10SnJ, and C57BL/10J were compared to identify RIII-derived clusters of variation in the B10.RIII genome. B10.RIII mice were crossed with B10 mice and subsequently backcrossed to B10.RIII mice to introduce the B10 allele at chromosome 15. Chr15b/b, Chr15b/r, and Chr15r/r B10.RIII mice were hydrodynamically injected with IL-23 minicircles, and arthritis development was monitored every other day for two weeks. RESULTS: The systematic literature review yielded 8 studies that compared arthritis development in B10.RIII to RIII or B10. These studies identified three arthritis susceptibility regions: Cia5/Eae3 on chromosome 3, Eae2 on chromosome 15, and Eae39 on chromosome 5. Eae2 is further split into four sub-regions: Cia30, Cia31, Cia32, and Cia26. Genome sequence comparison identified RIII-derived clusters in B10.RIII mice on chromosomes 10, 14, 15, and 17. The chromosome 15 region overlaps with the Eae2 susceptibility region for approximately 17 Mbp and includes the arthritis susceptibility loci Cia26 and Cia32. When this region was interrogated in vivo, Chr15r/r and Chr15b/r B10.RIII mice developed IL-23 minicircle arthritis, while Chr15b/b mice did not. CONCLUSION: The B10.RIII(71NS)/Sn strain contains several large RIII/WySn-derived regions outside the congenic MHC region. One of these clusters on chromosome 15 includes the arthritis susceptibility loci Cia26 and Cia32 and appears to determine susceptibility to IL-23 minicircle induced arthritis. Future studies will interrogate the role of the chromosome 15 RIII-derived region in arthritis development in more detail and aim to identify the specific gene variants that control arthritis susceptibility. / 2023-01-28T00:00:00Z

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Cachexia, the involuntary loss of fat and muscle is associated with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), contributing to its 90% 5-year mortality rate. Elevated Interleukin-6 (IL-6) expression is associated with cachexia severity and reduced survival in patients. IL-6 in cancer is well documented, but IL-6 signaling crosstalk among tissues is not. IL-6 signals by binding membrane-bound IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) (classical signaling) or soluble IL- 6R (sIL6R; trans-signaling) produced by shedding of the membrane receptor primarily from muscle, liver and leukocytes. Herein I investigate the role of tumorderived IL-6 on muscle and fat crosstalk in PDAC. Loss of IL-6 expression in murine KPC PDAC cells was accomplished by CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis of the Il6 gene. Orthotopic KPC IL-6 knockout (KPC-IL-6KO) tumor-bearing mice had reduced cachexia, with attenuated fat loss and no significant muscle loss, and longer survival versus KPC controls. Only KPC tumor-bearing mice had significant myosteatosis, aberrant branched chain amino acid and fatty acid metabolism, and reduced pyruvate entry into the TCA-cycle, determined by increased pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (PDK4) expression in muscle. Muscle was a main source of sIL6R, and fat a primary contributor of IL-6 in KPC tumor-bearing mice. Myosteatosis leads to activation of lipid-sensitive kinases like protein kinase C theta (PKCθ, gene name Prkcq) in muscle. KPC tumorbearing mice had increased muscle PKCθ activation, and PKCθ is known to regulate metabolism and inflammation. Prkcq-/- KPC tumor-bearing mice had reduced cachexia and maintained muscle mass and force production versus wild type tumor-bearing mice. Together these data implicate progressive signaling mechanisms whereby tumor-derived IL-6 is associated with increased muscle IL6R expression and fat lipolysis, promoting myosteatosis and muscle PKCθ activation, ultimately increasing cachexia severity in PDAC. / 2021-11-03

No description available.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on muscle damage and inflammation following an acute eccentric exercise bout. Methods: A double-blind placebo-controlled, study was performed using 41 healthy, untrained males aged 18-28 y who consumed either 2 g/d DHA or placebo (PL, corn oil) for 32 days. Supplements were consumed for 28 days prior to exercise. Participants completed an eccentric exercise procedure of the elbow flexors at 140% of 1-RM (6 sets x 10 repetitions). The time under tension (TUT) for each set of eccentric contractions was recorded manually from the investigators voice commands. Fasted blood samples for prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL1-ra), C-reactive protein and creatine kinase (CK) were assessed on days 1, 2 and 4. Fasted serum DHA was measured at baseline (day -28) and on day 1. Peak isometric strength of the elbow flexors, delayed-onset muscle soreness, and range of motion were measured on day 1 prior to exercise and days 2, 3, and 4 following exercise. Results: DHA significantly reduced natural log of CK (p<0.05) response over 4 d. Additionally, IL-6 area under the curve (AUC) was reduced for DHA compared to PL (3.6 ± 2.5 pg/mL vs. 5.3 ± 2.7 pg/mL) (p<0.05). TUT/set was higher in the DHA group compared to placebo (p<0.05). There were no other significant differences between treatments. Conclusion: DHA supplementation produced lower indicators of muscle damage (CK) and inflammation (IL-6 AUC). DHA supplementation resulted in greater TUT/set. / Master of Science

The cytokine, interleukin-7 (IL-7), has essential growth activities that maintain the homeostatic balance of the immune system. Little is known of the mechanism by which IL-7 signaling regulates metabolic activity in support of its vital function in lymphocytes. We observed that IL-7 deprivation caused a rapid decline in ATP levels that were attributable to loss of intracellular glucose retention. To identify the transducer of the IL-7 metabolic signal, we examined the expression of three important regulators of glucose metabolism, the glucose transporter, GLUT-1, and two glycolytic enzymes, Hexokinase II (HXKII) and phosphofructokinase-1 (PFK1), using an IL-7-dependent T-cell line and primary lymphocytes. We found that in lymphocytes deprived of IL-7 loss of glucose uptake correlated with decreased expression of HXKII. Re-addition of IL-7 to cytokine deprived lymphocytes restored the transcription of the HXKII gene within 2 hours, but not that of GLUT-1 or PFK1. IL-7-mediated increases in HXKII, but not GLUT-1 or PFK-1, were also observed at the protein level. Inhibition of HXKII with 3-Bromopyruvate or specific siRNA decreased glucose utilization, as well as ATP levels, in the presence of IL-7, while over-expression of HXKII, but not GLUT-1, restored glucose retention and increased ATP levels in the absence of IL-7. This IL-7 mediated HXKII gene expression was abrogated with inhibition of JNK pathway. IL-7 also increased activation of AP-1 complex and DNA binding of JunD, a transcriptional complex thought to be negative regulator of proliferation. We found that over expression of HXKII caused cell cycle arrest and cell death, indicating that a potent IL-7 signal could produce negative growth signals. We conclude that IL-7 controls glucose utilization by regulating the gene expression of HXKII through activation of JNK-JunD pathway, suggesting a mechanism by which IL-7 supports bioenergetics that control cell fate decisions in lymphocytes.

The Focus of this mixed method research was the implementation of lean six sigma principles to improve productivity of outpatients’ programs where each case requires multiple scheduling, multiple visits to patients’ homes and multiple visits to the health department. The site is the Peoria City/County Health Department (PCCHD). The PCCHD is the delegate agency for Illinois Department of Public Health Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (EH). They are also a recipient of the Federal Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control (LHC) program from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In line with their mission, they sought opportunities to review and streamline their lead abatement programs to improve productivity and effectiveness of service value offered to their recipients. This research analyzed the current state of lead abatement efforts in Peoria County and used lean six sigma methodologies to identify quantifiable opportunities to improve the effectiveness of PCCHD’s lead abatement efforts. Results show that through the use of lean six sigma methods, the lead time of the PCCHD lead abatement program Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was reduced by 30%. Secondly opportunities to eliminate duplication and omission of activities between lead abatement programs were identified and recommended. This research confirms that lean six sigma methods can also be applied successfully to more complex programs such as the lead abatement programs that require multiple scheduling, multiple visits to patients’ homes and multiple visits to the health department

No description available.