Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) is an essential chemokine involved in monocyte traffic across endo- and epithelial barriers both in vitro and in vivo. However, the contribution of endothelial MCP-1 signaling via its CCR2 receptor in monocyte adhesion to inflamed endothelium under flow is incompletely understood. A sensitive flow chamber assay was used to assess monocyte adhesion to T...

Myocardial infarction is associated with the rapid induction of mononuclear cell chemoattractants that promote monocyte infiltration into the injured area. Monocyte-to-macrophage differentiation and macrophage proliferation allow a long survival of monocytic cells, critical for effective healing of the infarct. In a canine infarction-reperfusion model, newly recruited myeloid leukocytes were ma...

Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that the Rho/Rho-associated protein kinase (Rho/ROCK) and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signaling pathways are involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic vascular injury. In this study, we investigated the beneficial effects of fasudil, a ROCK inhibitor, on vascular endothelial injury induced by advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in vitro. Human umbilical ve...

PURPOSE To investigate changes in cytokine levels in tears of type 2 diabetics with or without retinopathy. METHODS Tears were collected from 15 type 2 diabetics without retinopathy (DNR), 15 patients with retinopathy (DR), and 15 age and gender matched non-diabetic controls. Tear concentrations of 27 cytokines were measured by multiplex bead immunoassay. Cytokine differences between groups, ...

The mechanism by which estrogens protect against atherosclerosis is not known. We evaluated in vivo whether there is a gender difference in monocyte adhesion and subendothelial migration in hypercholesterolemic rabbits and whether any gender differences observed are due to estradiol. Monocyte adhesion and subendothelial migration were assessed in a blinded fashion by analyzing a standardized se...

BACKGROUND We have recently demonstrated a lectin-like receptor for oxidized (ox)-LDL (LOX-1) in human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAECs). This receptor is upregulated by ox-LDL. The present study examined the significance of LOX-1 in monocyte adhesion to HCAECs and endothelial injury in response to ox-LDL. METHODS AND RESULTS HCAECs were incubated in the presence of antisense oligode...

Chemokines are important mediators in infection and inflammation. The monocyte chemotactic proteins (MCPs) form a subclass of structurally related C-C chemokines. MCPs select specific target cells due to binding to a distinct set of chemokine receptors. Recombinant and synthetic MCP-1 variants have been shown to function as chemokine antagonists. In this study, posttranslationally modified immu...