Background: Alginate materials have been widely employed for biomedical applications ranging from wound healing to cancer treatment. However, how alginate materials affect the immune system is largely unknown. Objective: To explore the impact of alginate materials on immune system. Methods: The effect of three types of alginate materials, low viscosity, high viscosity and particulate alginate, ...

Background: Eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders or diseases (EGIDs) may result from an abnormal immune-mediated response to food antigens. Activated eosinophils release various mediators with inflammatory properties which may result in tissue and subsequently organ damage. The cytokine milieu of these patients has revealed increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, inc...

The atherosclerotic intimal lesion contains endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, monocytes/macrophages and T lymphocytes, which constitute a histamine-cytokine network that participates in chronic inflammatory responses. Monocytes/macrophages and T lymphocytes express the histamine-producing enzyme histidine decarboxylase (HDC), and specific histamine receptors (HHR), which are switched from...

Signal transduction from toll-like receptors (TLRs) is important for innate immunity against infections, but deregulated TLR signalling contributes to inflammatory disorders. Here we show that myeloid cell-specific ablation of TRAF2 greatly promotes TLR-stimulated proinflammatory cytokine expression in macrophages and exacerbates colitis in an animal model of inflammatory bowel disease. TRAF2 d...

Tight regulation of the production of the key pro-inflammatory cytokine tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is essential for the prevention of chronic inflammatory diseases. In vivo administration of a synthetic phospholipid, named hereafter phospho-ceramide analogue-1 (PCERA-1), was previously found to suppress lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced TNF-alpha blood levels. We therefore investig...

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a leading cause of chronic kidney disease. Proximal tubules are considered to be the primary origin of pathogenic inflammatory cytokines in AKI. However, it remains unclear whether other cell types, including collecting duct (CD) cells, participate in inflammatory processes. The transcription factor GATA2 is specifically expressed in CD cells and maintains their cel...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Sinomenine is an alkaloid compound and a prominent anti-inflammatory agent found in the root of the climbing plant Sinomenium acutum. However, its effects on the mechanism of human mast cell line (HMC)-1-mediated inflammation remained unknown. MATERIALS AND METHODS To provide insight into the biological effects of sinomenine, we examined its influence on the pro-infl...

Recent research has linked avoidance-oriented motivational states to elevated pro-inflammatory cytokine levels. According to one of many theories regarding the association between avoidance and cytokine levels, because the evolutionarily basic avoidance system may be activated when an organism is threatened or overwhelmed, an associated inflammatory response may be adaptive for dealing with pot...

The clinical features of psoriasis, characterized by sharply demarcated scaly erythematous plaques, are typically so distinctive that a diagnosis can easily be made on these grounds alone. However, there is great variability in treatment response between individual patients, and this may reflect heterogeneity of inflammatory networks driving the disease. In this study, whole-genome transcriptio...