BACKGROUND Fruits and vegetables are important sources of fiber and nutrients with a recognized antioxidant capacity, which could have beneficial effects on the proinflammatory status as well as some metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease features. The current study assessed the potential relationships of fruit and vegetable consumption with the plasma concentrations and mRNA expression ...

It has been suggested that elevated leptin levels underlie the low grade proinflammatory state in human obesity. We reasoned that if elevated leptin levels are an important factor in the proinflammatory state in obesity, then exogenous leptin administration during weight loss should counteract the concurrent beneficial effects of weight loss on the proinflammatory state. We therefore determined...

PURPOSE: Various lines of evidence suggest that proinflammatory factors may play a role in tumor growth and metastasis, the leading cause of cancer-related mortality. However, most evidence originates from animal models, only few human studies reported an association between proinflammatory cytokines and death from cancer. Here, we investigated the association between circulating levels and inn...

The ischemically injured kidney undergoes tubular cell necrosis and apoptosis, accompanied by an interstitial inflammatory cell infiltrate. In this study, we show that iNos-positive proinflammatory (M1) macrophages are recruited into the kidney in the first 48 hours after ischemia/reperfusion injury, whereas arginase 1- and mannose receptor-positive, noninflammatory (M2) macrophages predominate...

Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) exhibit phenotypic and functional plasticity in order to respond to vascular injury. In case of the vessel damage, VSMCs are able to switch from the quiescent 'contractile' phenotype to the 'proinflammatory' phenotype. This change is accompanied by decrease in expression of smooth muscle (SM)-specific markers responsible for SM contraction and production of ...

The gene PFKFB3 encodes for inducible 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase, a glycolysis-regulatory enzyme that protects against diet-induced intestine inflammation. However, it is unclear how nutrient overload regulates PFKFB3 expression and inflammatory responses in intestinal epithelial cells (IECs). In the present study, primary IECs were isolated from small intestine of C57BL/6J mice fed a low-fat die...

Acute-phase proteins, which respond to systemic proinflammatory cytokines such as interleuken-6, are elevated in cardiovascular disease and are predictive markers of future ischemic events, even over decades. This suggests a role for proinflammatory cytokines and/or acute phase proteins in early lesion development. To explore this issue, we fed C57Bl/6 and nonobese diabetic male mice high-fat (...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Proinflammatory genetic profiles, resulting from the combination of single nucleotide polymorphisms in genes encoding inflammatory molecules, may contribute to the development and progression of cardiovascular diseases. We evaluated the association between history of ischemic stroke and genetic profiles determined by the synergistic effects of polymorphisms in genes encod...

Reactive oxygen species and proinflammatory cytokines contribute to cardiovascular diseases. Inhibition of downstream transcription factors and gene modifiers of these components are key mediators of hypertensive response. Histone acetylases/deacetylases can modulate the gene expression of these hypertrophic and hypertensive components. Therefore, we hypothesized that long-term inhibition of hi...

OBJECTIVE Insulin resistance and other features of the metabolic syndrome have been causally linked to adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) in mice with diet-induced obesity. We aimed to characterize macrophage phenotype and function in human subcutaneous and omental adipose tissue in relation to insulin resistance in obesity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Adipose tissue was obtained from lean and...