Glucose is the primary metabolic substrate of macrophages, which are critical components of the host response to injury and infection. We have carried out a series of studies to examine macrophage glucose uptake and the status of glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) at both the mRNA and protein level. Peritoneal macrophages that were obtained from mice undergoing sham burned (S), 15%TBSA burn (B) +/- ...

Protein S deficiency, which is associated with thrombosis, can either be inherited or acquired. Recently, we reported that a decrease in free protein S was observed in 19 of 25 persons with HIV/AIDS. The proinflammatory cytokine, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), has been reported to be elevated in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients and ...

background : most diagnostic tests for biliary atresia (ba) are invasive. this study evaluates the sensitivity and specificity of serum  tumor necrosis factor-α (tnf-α) for diagnosing extra hepatic biliary duct atresia (ehba) in infants. materials and methods : infants with cholestasis who were admitted to children′s medical center hospital were evaluated. a total of 50 infants (20 with ehba an...

BACKGROUND Differing factors may alter the effects of antibody to tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in infection and sepsis. The authors tested whether bacteria type or treatment route alters antibody to TNF in a rat model of bacterial pneumonia. METHODS Rats (n = 231) received similarly lethal doses of either intratracheal Escherichia coli or Staphylococcus aureus followed by treatment with either...

Intradermally injected tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) mimics the effects of UV B light (UVB) radiation and neutralizing anti-TNF-alpha antibodies abolish the deleterious effects of UVB on induction of contact hypersensitivity suggesting that TNF-alpha is the major mediator of UVB effects on cutaneous immunity. In the present study we have shown that in lipopolysaccharide-sensitive inbr...

background inflammatory bowel disease (ibd) is a chronic, relapsing, inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract that includes two entities, crohn`s disease (cd) and ulcerative colitis (uc). as with other complex diseases, both genetic susceptibility and environmental factors play role in the pathogenesis of these diseases. the tumor necrosis factor α (tnf-α) gene is located in the ibd3...

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major human pathogen that is involved in community-acquired pneumonia. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that activates immune responses against infection, invasion, injury, or inflammation. To study the role of TNF-α during S. pneumoniae infection, a murine pneumococcal pneumonia model was used. We intranasally infected C57BL/6J wi...

A proinflammatory role for glycogen synthase kinase 3beta (GSK-3beta) has been demonstrated. Here, we addressed its roles on heat-inactivated Staphylococcus aureus-induced microglial inflammation. Heat-inactivated S. aureus induced tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and nitric oxide (NO) production, at least in part, via a Toll-like receptor 2-regulated pathway. Neutralization of TNF-alpha...

Adipose tissue expresses tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin (IL)-6, which may cause obesity-related insulin resistance. We measured TNF and IL-6 expression in the adipose tissue of 50 lean and obese subjects without diabetes. Insulin sensitivity (S(I)) was determined by an intravenous glucose tolerance test with minimal-model analysis. When lean [body mass index (BMI) <25 kg/m(2)] and ...