Project description:Background: It has been shown previously that administration of Francisella tularensis (Ft) LVS lipopolysaccharide (LPS) protects mice against subsequent challenge with Ft LVS and blunts the pro-inflammatory cytokine response. Methods: To investigate further the molecular mechanisms that underlie Ft LVS LPS-mediated protection, we profiled global hepatic gene expression following Ft LVS LPS or saline pretreatment and subsequent Ft LVS challenge using Affymetrix arrays. Results: A large number of genes (> 3000) were differentially expressed at 48 hours post-infection. The degree of modulation of inflammatory genes by infection was clearly attenuated by LPS-pretreatment in the surviving mice. However, LPS alone had a subtle but significant effect on the gene expression profile of the uninfected mice. By employing gene set enrichment analysis, we discovered significant up-regulation of peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs) and their target genes in LPS-treated liver. Conclusions: We hypothesize that the LPS-induced blunting of pro-inflammatory response in mouse is, in part, mediated by PPARs (alpha and gamma).
Project description:Background: It has been shown previously that administration of Francisella tularensis (Ft) LVS lipopolysaccharide (LPS) protects mice against subsequent challenge with Ft LVS and blunts the pro-inflammatory cytokine response. Methods: To investigate further the molecular mechanisms that underlie Ft LVS LPS-mediated protection, we profiled global hepatic gene expression following Ft LVS LPS or saline pretreatment and subsequent Ft LVS challenge using Affymetrix arrays. Results: A large number of genes (> 3000) were differentially expressed at 48 hours post-infection. The degree of modulation of inflammatory genes by infection was clearly attenuated by LPS-pretreatment in the surviving mice. However, LPS alone had a subtle but significant effect on the gene expression profile of the uninfected mice. By employing gene set enrichment analysis, we discovered significant up-regulation of peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs) and their target genes in LPS-treated liver. Conclusions: We hypothesize that the LPS-induced blunting of pro-inflammatory response in mouse is, in part, mediated by PPARs (alpha and gamma). Experiment Overall Design: Two groups of 9 mice each were used for this experiment. 48 hours prior to Ft LVS challenge, mice were injected i.p. with either 100 ng of Ft LVS LPS or an equivalent volume of saline. On the day of challenge, 3 saline- and 3 Ft LVS LPS-pretreated animals were sacrificed (uninfected controls), while all remaining mice were challenged i.p. with ~4-5 X 105 Ft LVS. Ft LVS-challenged mice were sacrificed (in groups of 3) at 24 and 48 hours post-infection.
Project description:Prior aerosol exposure to F. tularensis subsp. tularensis, but not the live attenuated strain (LVS) of F. tularensis subsp. holarctica or F. novicida, significantly antagonized the transcriptional response in the lungs of infected mice exposed to aerosolized TLR4 ligand E. coli LPS.
Project description:Infection-associated inflammatory stress during pregnancy is the most common cause of fetal growth restriction. Treatment strategies for protection of at-risk mothers are limited. Employing mouse models, we demonstrate that oral treatment during pregnancy with a microbial-derived immunomodulator (OM85), markedly reduces risk for fetal loss/growth restriction resulting from maternal challenge with bacterial LPS or influenza. Focusing on LPS exposure, we demonstrate that the key molecular indices of maternal inflammatory stress (RANTES, MIP-1a, CCL2, KC, G-CSF) in gestational tissues/serum, are abrogated by OM85 pretreatment. Systems-level analyses of RNASeq data revealed that OM85 pretreatment selectively tunes LPS-induced activation in maternal gestational tissues for attenuated expression of TNF-, IL1-, and IFNg- driven proinflammatory networks, without constraining Type1-IFN-associated networks central to first-line anti-microbial defense. This study suggests that broad-spectrum protection-of-pregnancy against infection-associated inflammatory stress, without compromising capacity for efficient pathogen eradication, represents an achievable therapeutic goal.
Project description:Francisella tularensis is a category A select agent based on its infectivity and virulence but disease mechanisms in F. tularensis infection remain poorly understood. A murine pulmonary model of infection was therefore employed to characterize the host immune response to F. tularensis infection and to discern differences in responses to infection with the highly virulent Type A F. tularensis strain Schu4 and to the less virulent Type B live vaccine strain (LVS). Mice were infected intranasally with F. tularensis Schu4 or LVS and organ lesions were assessed 48 and 120 hours after infection. Experiments were also conducted to assess and compare the host immune response to infection using global transcriptional analysis. Mice were infected via low dose aerosol with F. tularensis Schu4 or LVS strains, and transcriptional response in the lungs and spleen was monitored using full mouse genome microarrays at 12, 24, 48, and 120 hours after infection. We found differential and temporal differences in expression of cytokine and chemokine genes, CD molecules, apoptosis, leukocytes and adhesion receptors, and immunological signaling between infection with Schu4 and LVS strains. The transcriptional differences coincided with marked differences in the timing and extent of organ lesions in mice infected with the LVS and Schu4 strains. Thus, these studies revealed both temporal and qualitative differences in the host immune response to infection with virulent F. tularensis Schu4 compared to infection with LVS.
Project description:To better understand the role of mTOR in regulation of the monocyte response to LPS, we obtained mRNA-seq profiles of primary human monocytes stimulated ex vivo through TLR4, with and without pretreatment with a catalytic mTOR inhibitor (mTORi)
Project description:proteome of LPS-stimulated macrophages in Il18-knockout mouse' liver and lung. proteome of LPS-stimulated macrophages in widetype mouse' liver and lung.