HIV-associated dementia (HAD) correlates with infiltration of monocytes into the brain. The accessory HIV-1 negative factor (Nef) protein, which modulates several signaling pathways, is constitutively present in persistently infected astroctyes. We demonstrated that monocytes responded with chemotaxis when subjected to cell culture supernatants of nef-expressing astrocytic U251MG cells. Using a...

To understand the roles of purinergic receptors and cellular molecules below the receptors in the vascular inflammatory response, we determined if extracellular nucleotides up-regulated chemokine expression in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Human aortic smooth muscle cells (AoSMCs) abundantly express P2Y(1), P2Y(6), and P2Y(11) receptors, which all respond to extracellular nucleotides. E...

BACKGROUND Asthma is characterized by variable airflow obstruction, airway inflammation, airway hyper-responsiveness and airway remodelling. Airway smooth muscle (ASM) hyperplasia is a feature of airway remodelling and contributes to bronchial wall thickening. We sought to investigate the expression levels of chemokines in primary cultures of ASM cells from asthmatics vs healthy controls and to...

PURPOSE Acute anterior uveitis (AAU) is the most common form of uveitis. Up to 50% of patients with AAU are HLA-B27 positive. Since HLA B27 itself plays only a minor role in the overall genetic background, other genetic variants are likely to contribute to the susceptibility to AAU. The chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2) gene, coding for monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), a chemotac...

OBJECTIVES A nonagonist monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1/CCL2) mutant (PA508) with increased affinity for glycosaminoglycans and thus competing with CCL2 was evaluated as a candidate for preventing neointima formation or myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury. BACKGROUND Myocardial infarction (MI) remains a major cause of death worldwide despite improved interventional and therapeutic op...

CCL2 (MCP-1, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1) and CCL3 (MIP-1alpha, macrophage inflammatory protein 1alpha) are required for macrophage infiltration in adipose tissue. Insulin increases CCL2 expression in adipose tissue and in serum more in insulin-resistant obese than in insulin-sensitive lean mice, but whether this is true in humans is unknown. We compared basal expression and insulin regu...

Monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells and microglia play critical roles in the local immune response to acute and chronic tissue injury and have been implicated in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration. Defects in Ccl2-Ccr2 and Cx3cl1-Cx3cr1 chemokine signalling cause enhanced accumulation of bloated subretinal microglia/macrophages in senescent mice and this phenomenon is repo...

976 INSIGHTS | The Journal of Experimental Medicine Macrophages are critically important for the regulation of tumor growth and metastases. They contribute to tumor angiogenesis, tumor cell extravasation, and survival at the sites of metastases. Now, Kitamura et al., using mouse models of breast cancer, have uncovered a major role for a CCL2-induced chemokine cascade that supports macrophage re...

INTRODUCTION The present study examines the levels of recently reported biomarkers, adenosine deaminase acting on RNA (ADAR), C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2), C-X-C motif chemokine 10 (CXCL10), signal transducers and activators of transcription 1 (STAT1), and miR-146a in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients over multiple visits. METHODS Peripheral blood leukocytes were collected fr...