The lung collectin surfactant protein A (SP-A) has both anti-inflammatory and prophagocytic activities. We and others previously showed that SP-A inhibits the macrophage production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha stimulated by the gram-negative bacterial component LPS. We propose that SP-A decreases the production of proinflammatory cytokines by alveolar macrophages via a CD14-independent ...

Intrachamber challenge with Porphyromonas gingivalis strain 381 in a mouse subcutaneous chamber model results in a local infection that progresses to exfoliation of the chambers within 15 days. This study was designed to elucidate the contribution of host reactions to tissue destruction manifested by chamber exfoliation in animals infected with P. gingivalis. Chamber fluids showed increasing le...

Acute lung injury (ALI) is an inflammatory disorder associated with reduced alveolar-capillary barrier function and increased pulmonary vascular permeability. Vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) is widely associated with all types of modulations of cytoskeleton rearrangement-dependent cellular morphology and function, such as adhesion, shrinkage, and permeability. The present studies w...

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), a major mediator of inflammation, also possesses a wide pleiotropism of actions, suggesting its involvement in physiological conditions. TNF-alpha mRNA is present in mouse embryonic tissues and also in fetal thymus and spleen. Repeated injections of a monospecific polyclonal rabbit anti-mouse TNF-alpha antibody in mice, starting either during pregnancy o...

We investigated the biological role of the human tumor necrosis factor p75 (hTNF-R75), making use of the species specificity of TNF responses in murine (m) T cell lines. Several TNF-mediated activities on mouse T cells, such as cytokine induction or proliferation, showed a 100-500-fold difference in specific biological activity between mTNF and hTNF. After transfection of hTNF-R75 cDNA in a rat...

Previously we identified a transcription factor, LPS-Induced TNF-alpha Factor (LITAF), mediating inflammatory cytokine expression in LPS-induced processes. To characterize the role of LITAF in vivo, we generated a macrophage-specific LITAF-deficient mouse (macLITAF(-/-)). Our data demonstrate that in macrophages (i) several cytokines (such as TNF-alpha, IL-6, sTNF-RII, and CXCL16) are induced a...

The main objective of this study was to explore the concentration-effect relationship between the immunomodulating agent susalimod and lipopolycaccharide (LPS)-induced elevated serum levels of the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha). Bacterial LPS (1 mg/kg) was given i.p. along with different doses of susalimod (0, 25, 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg) to female CD-1 mice. Bl...

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) is implicated as an important proinflammatory cytokine in asthma. We evaluated mice deficient in TNF receptor 1 (TNFR1) and TNFR2 [TNFR(-/-) mice] in a murine model of allergic inflammation and found that TNFR(-/-) mice had comparable or accentuated responses compared with wild-type [TNFR(+/+)] mice. The responses were consistent among multiple end points. Airw...

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) can induce mouse macrophages to produce a number of cytokines and other inflammatory mediators. Our laboratory previously reported that LPS-dependent macrophage-derived tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) production could be significantly potentiated by pretreatment with LPS at substimulatory LPS priming doses. The observed potentiation was shown to be coincident wi...

Because most studies addressing the regulatory mechanisms of intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 expression have used cultured endothelial cells, we set out to develop an isolated mouse lung preparation to study gene and protein expression in its proper cellular context in the organ. Lungs from CD1 mice were isolated and perfused (2 ml/min, 37 degrees C) with a recirculating volume of RPMI...