OBJECTIVES Chemokines favour leukocyte homing and participate actively in inflammation and accumulation of extracellular matrix. The aim of our work is to assess in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) the serum levels of CC chemokines: CCL2 monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1/CCL2), CCL5 'regulated upon activation, normal T expressed and secreted' (RANTES/CCL5) and CCL3 'macrophage inflamm...

Second mitochondria-derived activator of caspase (Smac) mimetics are considered as promising anticancer therapeutics that are currently under investigation in early clinical trials. They induce apoptosis by antagonizing inhibitor of apoptosis proteins, which are frequently overexpressed in cancer. We previously reported that Smac mimetics, such as BV6, additionally exert non-apoptotic functions...

Hepatic stellate cells (HSC) coordinate the liver wound-healing response through secretion of several cytokines and chemokines, including CCL2 (formerly known as monocyte chemoattractant protein-1). In this study, we evaluated the role of different proteins of the MAPK family (ERK, p38(MAPK), and JNK) in the regulation of CCL2 expression by HSC, as an index of their proinflammatory activity. Se...

PURPOSE Novel therapeutic targets of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancers are urgently needed because current antiestrogen therapy causes severe adverse effects, nearly 50% of patients are intrinsically resistant, and the majority of recurrences have maintained ER expression. We investigated the role of estrogen-dependent chemokine expression and subsequent cancer growth in human tiss...

We demonstrate that the secretome of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) suppresses plasma cell (PC) immunoglobulin (Ig) production, induces plasmablast proliferation, and leads to interleukin-10-mediated blockade in vitro. We found that these effects are the result of MSC-derived CC chemokine ligands CCL2 and CCL7. More specifically, MSCs further processed these CC chemokines by the activity of m...

In order to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the immunosuppressive effects of tacrolimus (FK506) on intestinal inflammation, we examined whether FK506 effects cytokine/chemokine secretion in human colonic myofibroblasts. Human colonic myofibroblasts were isolated from normal human colonic tissue. The mRNA and protein expression for human CCL2 and CXCL10 were analyzed by real-time...

Dysadherin, a cancer-associated membrane glycoprotein, down-regulates E-cadherin and promotes cancer metastasis. This study examined the role of dysadherin in breast cancer progression. Expression of dysadherin was found to be highest in breast cancer cell lines and tumors that lacked the estrogen receptor (ER). Knockdown of dysadherin caused increased association of E-cadherin with the actin c...

Genetic susceptibility has been described in insulin resistance (IR). Chemokine (C-C motif) ligand-2 (CCL2) is overexpressed in white adipose tissue and is the ligand of C-C motif receptor-2 (CCR2). The CCL2 G-2518A polymorphism is known to regulate gene expression, whereas the physiological effects of the CCR2Val64Ile polymorphism are unknown. The aim of the study is to investigate the relatio...

An avian-origin influenza A (H7N9) virus was a cause for concern in China in the spring of 2013. Most H7N9 infections resulted in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which is a severe form of acute lung injury (ALI) that contributes to morbidity and mortality. In this study, we induced viral ALI by infecting wild-type and CCL2-deficient mice with influenza H7N9 virus. The results sugges...

OBJECTIVE Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1/CCL2) is a chemokine involved into the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and has prognostic value in the acute and chronic phases in patients with acute coronary syndromes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS MCP-1/CCL2 concentration was measured in plasma fractions of 363 middle-aged overweight/obese individuals (aged 61 +/- 12 years, BMI 30.1 +/- 6....