促炎症消退新介质：消退素与保护素

炎症启动（initiation）、发展之后的消退（resolution）是受到体内促消退介质（pro-resolving mediator）调控的主动过程。继发现由花生四烯酸衍生的脂氧素（lipoxin）后,新近又从炎症消退阶段的炎性渗出物中分离出由ω-3多不饱和脂肪酸转化而来的消退素（resolvin）与保护素（protectin）,它们也具有强效的抗炎促消退效应,成为促炎症消退介质的新成员。     

脂氧素受体及其介导的促炎症消退信号

炎症的及时消退是防止炎症走向慢性的关键,而脂氧素具有促进炎症消退的独特功效。脂氧素的抗炎促消退效应主要由其特异性受体所介导。脂氧素受体广泛表达于各类炎症相关细胞并受多种炎症刺激的调节,通过PKA、PKC、MAPK等一系列信号途径参与控制炎症的发生发展。     

促炎症消退介质脂氧素与炎症性疾病

脂氧素是炎症过程中产生的具有特征性三羟四烯结构的花生四烯酸衍生物,因具有独特的促炎症消退功效而成为目前炎症研究和新药开发的焦点.越来越多的研究征实,脂氧素代谢及效应的异常与临床多种炎症相关性疾病的发生发展关系密切.目前认为炎症自限机制发生障碍才是炎症失控的根本原因,而"促炎症消退"成为炎症治疗的新策略.     

脂氧素与炎症的消退

脂氧素(lipoxin,LXs)又被称为脂肪氧合酶相互作用的产物,是在由损伤,感染,炎症等刺激引起的多细胞宿主反应中产生的,是含有三羟四烯结构的类花生酸类物质。LXs是第一个被确定和被克隆的类二十烷酸的并具有生物活性的內源脂质介质,是在体内细胞与细胞的相互作用中形成。目前许多研究发现,LXs能够调节多种炎症相关基因的表达和多种炎症细胞的功能,从而呈现出高效的的促炎症消退的作用。LXs这种独特的抗炎、促消退的功能,使得它成为近年来许多炎症研究的焦点。     

脂氧素与炎症消退

脂氧素是继前列腺素和白三烯后被证实的又一重要的花生四烯酸代谢产物,新近研究发现脂氧素对多种炎性细胞的功能和多种炎症相关基因的表达有广泛的调节作用,能促进炎症反应的及时消退,被认为是机体内一类重要的内源性脂质抗炎介质,因而在炎症,特别是炎症消退机制的研究中倍受关注。     

调控肺部炎症消退的内源性介质

炎症反应是宿主重要防御机制之一。慢性炎症或过度炎症反应可导致严重的肺部疾病,如哮喘、急性呼吸窘迫综合征等。新近研究表明炎症消退是一个主动过程,炎症的及时消退是防止炎症过强及走向慢性化的关键环节。因此,调控炎症消退的内源性介质成为新的研究热点。促进炎症消退内源性介质的发现不仅为肺部疾病研究提供新视野,也为全新的促炎症消退治疗策略防治肺部疾病提供理论依据。     

脂氧素——抗组织纤维化的新药物

组织纤维化是器官组织内纤维结缔组织增多而实质细胞减少的一类疾病,组织损伤导致的慢性炎症反应是纤维化形成的根本原因. 脂氧素是体内重要的内源性促炎症消退介质,兼具抗炎和促炎症消退双重作用,对多种炎症细胞和炎症相关基因有显著的负性调节作用,为炎症反应的重要“刹车信号”. 脂氧素可以促进炎症及时消退而防止其蔓延为慢性炎症,因此,它极有可能在抑制纤维化的形成中起到至关重要的作用.近年来,随着对脂氧素研究的不断深入,其抗纤维化作用日益凸显,成为极有价值的抗纤维化潜在药物.     

脂氧素的抗炎镇痛与神经保护作用研究进展

脂氧素是一类来源于花生四烯酸具有抗炎和促炎症消退的脂类介质。作为炎症过程中的负性调控因子,被广泛用于治疗各种急慢性炎症、疼痛、脑血管疾病及各种恶性肿瘤。该文将就其在抗炎镇痛和神经保护方面的研究进展作一综述。     

选择素与肿瘤转移研究进展

晚近发现的粘附分子受体（选择素）,能介导血小板、内皮细胞与中性粒细胞、单核细胞及肿瘤细胞的粘附,它们在炎症、血栓形成及肿瘤转移过程中起重要作用。本文练过了选择素的结构与功能特点,在正常组织中分布以及与肿瘤转移方面的有关研究进展。     

免疫细胞的“内置指南针”被发现

加州大学圣地亚哥分校研究者发现中性粒细胞（一种在炎症反应及机体对抗病原体的免疫反应中发挥重要作用的特别的白细胞）是如何定位到感染和炎症反应部位的。该报道发表在2006-12-15版的Seience杂志中,描述了中性粒细胞使用的“内置指南针”的元素。正是这些元素,使得中性粒细胞能够检测到感染及炎症部位所释放的化学引诱物和分子标志,并移行到感染及炎症部位。     

Association of inflammatory and other immune markers with gallbladder cancer: Results from two independent case-control studies

Most gallbladder cancer (GBC) cases arise in the context of gallstones, which cause inflammation, but few gallstone patients develop GBC. We explored inflammation/immune-related markers measured in bile and serum in GBC cases compared to gallstone patients to better understand how inflammatory patterns in these two conditions differ. We measured 65 immune-related markers in serum and bile from 41 GBC cases and 127 gallstone patients from Shanghai, China, and calculated age- and sex-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for GBC versus gallstones. We then focused on the markers that were significantly elevated in bile and serum to replicate the findings in serum from 35 GBC cases and 31 gallstone controls from Chile. Comparing the highest versus lowest quantile, 15 markers (23%) were elevated in both serum and bile from GBC versus gallstone patients in the Shanghai study (p < 0.05). The strongest OR was for CXCL8 (interleukin-8) in serum (96.8, 95% CI: 11.9–790.2). Of these 15 markers, 6 were also significantly elevated in serum from Chile (CCL20, C-reactive protein, CXCL8, CXCL10, resistin, serum amyloid A). Pooled ORs from Shanghai and Chile for these 6 markers ranged from 7.2 (95% CI: 2.8–18.4) for CXCL10 to 58.2 (95% CI: 12.4–273.0) for CXCL8. GBC is associated with inflammation above and beyond that generated by gallstones alone. This local inflammatory process is reflected systemically. Future longitudinal studies are needed to identify the key players in cancer development, which may guide translational efforts to identify individuals at high risk of developing GBC.     

Neurotrophins in inflammatory lung diseases: modulators of cell differentiation and neuroimmune interactions

Chronic inflammatory lung diseases represent a group of severe diseases with increasing prevalence as well as epidemiological importance. Inflammatory lung diseases could result from allergic or infectious genesis. There is growing evidence that the immune and nervous system are closely related not only in physiological but also in pathological reactions in the lung. Extensive communications between neurons and immune cells are responsible for the magnitude of airway inflammation and the development of airway hyperreactivity, a consequence of neuronal dysregulation. Neurotrophins are molecules regulating and controlling this crosstalk between the immune and peripheral nervous system (PNS) during inflammatory lung diseases. They are constitutively expressed by resident lung cells and produced in increasing quantities by immune cells invading the airways under inflammatory conditions. They act as activation, differentiation and survival factors for cells of both the immune and nervous system. This article will review the most recent data of neurotrophin signaling in the normal and inflamed lung and as yet unexplored, roles of neurotrophins in the complex communication within the neuroimmune network.     

A Population-Based Epidemiologic Study of Helicobacter Pylori Infection and its Association with Systemic Inflammation

Background:  Infection with Helicobacter pylori is associated with a variety of non-gastrointestinal sequelae. These may be mediated by an increase in systemic inflammation. We assessed if serologic evidence of infection with H. pylori is associated with increased serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels.
Methods:  The study design consisted of a randomly selected, cross-sectional population-based study of 2633 individuals phenotyped in 1991, of whom 2361 participants provided serum samples to permit measurement of H. pylori 's serologic status and CRP levels.
Results:  Male gender (odds ratio (OR): 1.65; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.23–2.21), age (OR per year: 1.05; 95% CI: 1.04–1.06), height (OR per meter: 0.05; 95% CI: 0.01–0.24), current smoking habit (compared with never smokers, OR: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.13–1.88), and less affluent socioeconomic status were associated with increased odds of being seropositive for H. pylori . Helicobacter pylori infection was associated with increased risk of having an elevated serum CRP (above 3 mg/L) after adjustment for gender, age, height, smoking status, and socioeconomic status (OR: 1.32; 95% CI: 1.05–1.67). Similar associations were seen using a threshold for elevated serum CRP of greater than 1 mg/L.
Conclusions:  Our data suggest that infection with H. pylori is associated with increased systemic inflammation. This suggests one potential mechanism to explain the extra-gastrointestinal conditions associated with H. pylori infection.     

Effects of interactions between various fats and active/passive phases on postprandial inflammation in rats

The circadian clock controls number of behavioral and physiological processes during daily light/dark cycle including inflammation and vascular injury. However, how reciprocal interaction of dietary fats and light/dark cycle affects postprandial inflammation is currently unknown. To this end, effects of various dietary fats given to rats by gavaging either in light or dark phase on postprandial inflammation were compared. Sunflower oil load activated greater number of inflammatory CD markers in passive phase whereas the butter load in active phase compared to their counter phase. The inflammatory influence of fish oil load appeared to be mostly confined to passive phase. Differences found between the levels of some of the inflammatory markers in active and passive phases of normal fed rats were altered by fat/oil administrations. We conclude that influences of dietary fats/oils on postprandial inflammatory changes might depend not only on their fatty acid compositions but also on their ingestion times.     

Therapeutic effects of isothiocyanate prodrugs on rheumatoid arthritis

Isothiocyanates 7a and 7b have poor stability and aqueous solubility. To address these problems, prodrugs 8a and 8b were synthesized. Prodrugs 8a and 8b were stable in HEPES buffer at pH 4.4, but released the active compounds 7a and 7b in HEPES buffer at pH 7.4 and in mouse plasma, respectively. Compound 8a and especially compound 8b showed anti-inflammatory effects. Compound 8b demonstrated significant efficacy in animal models of traumatic inflammation, acute inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis. Compound 8b also did not cause appreciable toxicity in mice after 5?weeks at a daily dose of 200?mg/kg.