BUSM investigates cellular mechanisms leading to immune response in airway epithelium
2010-11-24
(Press-News.org) (Boston) – Researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have demonstrated that commensal species of the genus Neisseriae are low inducers of human airway epithelial cell responses as compared to the pathogenic species. Specifically, the study indicates that a Neisserial outer membrane component appears to play a differential role in the host inflammatory responses via interaction with a receptor on the surface of human airway epithelial cells.
Paola Massari, an assistant professor in the section of infectious diseases at BUSM, is lead author of this study, which is published in the Dec. 2010 issue of the journal Infection and Immunity.
The team focused their research on Neisseria lactamica, a gram negative organism comprising both commensal and pathogenic bacteria. Neisseria meningitidis, the causative agent of meningococcal meningitis, as well as Neisseria lactamica, colonize the human nasopharynx, but only Neisseria meningitidis is pathogenic.
"We set out to understand the relationship between commensal Neisseriae organisms and the human hosts," said Massari. "Although Neisseriae organisms express mostly identical surface antigens and structures, they appear to induce different responses when they interact with the host."
To examine how the bacteria interact with human nasopharyngeal cells, Massari and her research team honed in on a bacterial surface component, the PorB porin, present in all Neisseriae organisms. After purifying the PorB, they found that the protein from the commensal bacteria induced lower levels of human airway epithelial cell activation compared to PorB purified from the pathogenic organisms.
Next, the team demonstrated that PorB from N. lactamica and PorB from N. meningitidis appear to interact with the host cell surface receptor, Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2), in a differential manner, thus leading to different inflammatory responses in human airway epithelial cells.
"This study confirms that TLR2 signaling is essential for the activation of human airway epithelial cells," said Massari. "This is likely one of the mechanisms by which the body limits inflammation in response to colonization with harmless commensal bacteria, thus avoiding exacerbation of inflammatory responses and local chronic local inflammation.
###
About Boston University School of Medicine
Originally established in 1848 as the New England Female Medical College, and incorporated into Boston University in 1873, Boston University School of Medicine today is a leading academic medical center with an enrollment of more than 700 medical students and more than 800 masters and PhD students. Its 1,246 full and part-time faculty members generated more than $335 million in funding in the 2009-2010 academic year for research in amyloidosis, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, cancer, infectious disease, pulmonary disease and dermatology among others. The School is affiliated with Boston Medical Center, its principal teaching hospital, the Boston and Bedford Veterans Administration Medical Centers and 16 other regional hospitals as well as the Boston HealthNet.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2010-11-24
The venus flytrap plant captures its prey when it senses the presence of an insect on the tips of its leaves. An amphiphilic molecule designed by chemists at The City College of New York acts in a similar manner by changing its structure when heated slightly and, then, reverting to its original form when cooled.
The finding, reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie, points toward the possibility of designing adaptive soft materials in the lab that take their cues from how nature responds to stimuli, said Dr. George John, associate professor and corresponding author.
Professor ...
2010-11-24
In a cross-sectional study from the 2004 and 2007 Australian National Drug Strategy Household (NDSH) surveys, respondents were questioned about their current and past drinking, the presence of formal diagnosis for specific diseases (heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cancer, anxiety, depression) and self-perceived general health status. The sample sizes for the 2004 and 2007 NDSH surveys were 24,109 and 23,356, respectively.
The authors report that respondents with a diagnosis of diabetes, hypertension, or anxiety were more likely to have reduced or stopped ...
2010-11-24
The brain is forever chattering to itself, via electrical impulses sent along its hard-wired neuronal "Ethernet." These e-messages are translated into chemical transmissions, allowing communication across the narrow cleft separating one neuron from another or between neurons and their target cells. Of the many kinds of molecules involved in this lively chemical symposium, acetylcholine is among the most critical, performing a host of functions in the central and peripheral nervous system. This delicate cholinergic design however is highly vulnerable. It can fall victim ...
2010-11-24
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Crop diversification with shrubby legumes mixed with soybean and peanuts could be the key to sustaining the green revolution in Africa, according to a Michigan State University study.
The study, which appears in the Nov. 22 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, states that diversifying crops would boost production of nutrient-enriched grain by 12 percent to 23 percent, said Sieglinde Snapp, a crop and soil scientist at Michigan State University's Kellogg Biological Station.
Malawi has been called the cradle of Africa's green ...
2010-11-24
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Nov. 23, 2010 -- A systematic study of phase changes in vanadium dioxide has solved a mystery that has puzzled scientists for decades, according to researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Scientists have known that vanadium dioxide exhibits several competing phases when it acts as an insulator at lower temperatures. However, the exact nature of the phase behavior has not been understood since research began on vanadium dioxide in the early 1960s.
Alexander Tselev, a research associate from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville ...
2010-11-24
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have developed a new type of software that enables people to use large visual displays and touch screens interactively over the Internet for business and homeland security applications.
Tabletop touch-operated displays are becoming popular with professionals in various fields, said Niklas Elmqvist, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University.
"These displays are like large iPhones, and because they are large they invite collaboration," he said. "So we created a software framework that allows more ...
2010-11-24
Vancouver residents and visitors set records for sustainable travel during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, more than doubling the number of trips typically taken by public transit, biking or walking, according to a University of British Columbia study completed for the City of Vancouver.
The Host City Olympic Transportation Plan Downtown Monitoring Study looked at how people got around during the February 12-28 Winter Games, and compared the findings to previous transportation monitoring efforts conducted by the City of Vancouver and its partners. On an average Olympic ...
2010-11-24
Some people always know which way is north and how to get out of a building. Others can live in an apartment for years without knowing which side faces the street. Differences among people that include spatial skills, experience, and preferred strategies for wayfinding are part of what determines whether people get lost in buildings—and psychological scientists could help architects understand where and why people might get lost in their buildings, according to the authors of an article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association ...
2010-11-24
Making fuel cells practical and affordable will not happen overnight. It may, however, not take much longer.
With advances in nanostructured devices, lower operating temperatures, and the use of an abundant fuel source and cheaper materials, a group of researchers led by Shriram Ramanathan at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) are increasingly optimistic about the commercial viability of the technology.
Ramanathan, an expert and innovator in the development of solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), says they may, in fact, soon become the go-to technology ...
2010-11-24
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have found evidence that an environmental pollutant may play an important role in causing multiple sclerosis and that a hypertension drug might be used to treat the disease.
The toxin acrolein was elevated by about 60 percent in the spinal cord tissues of mice with a disease similar to multiple sclerosis, said Riyi Shi, a medical doctor and a professor of neuroscience and biomedical engineering in Purdue University's Department of Basic Medical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Center for Paralysis Research and Weldon School of ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] BUSM investigates cellular mechanisms leading to immune response in airway epithelium
