Project description:5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is one of the natural amino acids and a product of the first heme synthesis pathway in mitochondria. Recently, a supplement containing ALA is available in Japan and used for the purpose of the enhancement of ATP synthesis via mitochondrial activity. In humans, the immunomodulatory effect of ALA has attracted attention as a new function of ALA, and its application to cancer, inflammatory disease, and autoimmune diseases are being investigated. In the present study, to evaluate the effects of ALA on canine immunity, we performed in vitro studies using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from healthy dogs. Heme oxygenase-1 protein was expressed in Madin-Darby Canine Kidney cells and PBMCs treated with 5-ALA and ferrous sodium citrate (SFC), which showed that ALA works in dogs as well as humans. When PBMCs were stimulated with concanavalin A (ConA), the addition of ALA resulted in a significant increase in interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) produced by ConA-stimulated PBMCs. A comprehensive genetic alteration using next-generation RNA sequences (RNA-seq) was performed. From the result of RNA-seq, ALA enhanced the gene expression of T cell immunity including Th1, Th2, and Th17 subsets. In particular, the IL-17 signaling pathway was significantly upregulated. Then, we confirmed that ALA promoted the production of interleukin (IL)-17A in ConA-stimulated PBMCs. Together, these findings reveal that ALA promotes heme synthesis in mitochondria and enhances ConA-induced T cell immune responses in canine PBMCs.
Project description:Primary human peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from full blood by standard ficoll centrifugation. Cells were washed and processed immediately.
Project description:Circulating tumor cells in the peripheral have proven to be independent prognostic factors for overall survival the monitoring of therapeutic success of human breast cancer patients. Postmortem morphologic evidence also points towards the presence of circulating tumor cells in the peripheral blood of dogs with metastatic canine mammary tumors. However, the existence of these cells has not been verified in canines in vivo and they have not been isolated and characterized due to the lack of appropriate and canine specific detection methods. In the present study a panel of 73 genes with high expression levels in canine mammary carcinoma cells and but not in peripheral blood leukocytes were identified using microarray analysis. From this panel, six mRNA markers, AGR2, ATP8B1, CRYAB, F3 and IRX3, were expressed in canine mammary carcinoma cells but not in the peripheral blood of dogs. All six RT-PCR assays, were sensitive enough detect one carcinoma cell admixed in 106 or more peripheral blood leukocytes, a common concentration of circulating tumor cells in the peripheral blood of human breast cancer patients. These five mRNA markers may therefore be used to detect canine mammary circulating tumor cells and to study their spatio-temporal presence in the peripheral blood of canine patients.
Project description:Transcriptome profiling was conducted on 2 replicate samples of total peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and isolated PBMC subsets.
Project description:Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is an inflammatory arthritis of the axial skeleton that predominantly affects young men. HLA-B27 has remained the major genetic risk factor in AS. Recently, more non-MHC genes has been discoverd to be involved in AS pathogenesis, especially IL-23 signalling pathway related genes. We performed a proteomic study of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells from AS patients and healthy donors.