BACKGROUND The stem bark of Kalopanax pictus (KP) has been used in traditional medicine to treat rheumatoidal arthritis, neurotic pain and diabetes mellitus in China and Korea. In this study, the mechanism responsible for anti-inflammatory effects of KP was investigated. METHODS We examined the effects of KP on NO production, nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and HO-1 expression, NF-κB, Nrf2 and M...

Invasion of fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLSs) is critical in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The metalloproteinases (MMPs) and activator of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathway play a critical role in RA-FLS invasion induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The present study aimed to explore the anti-invasive activity of celastrol on LPS-stimulated human RA...

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is implicated in the development of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress) observed after a high-fat diet (HFD) in liver, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. TLR4(-/-) and C57BL/6J wild-type mice (WT) were fed with chow or HFD (45% calories from fat) during 18 weeks. An oral glucose tolerance-test was performed. ...

Background: The aim of this work was to investigate whether Follistatin like 1 (FSTL1) exerted an effect on acute kidney injury (AKI) induced by sepsis, and explore the molecular mechanism. Methods: A cecal ligation puncture (CLP) model established adenoviral solution administrated newborn rats achieve FSTL1 knockdown. Colorimetric assays measured concentrations serum creatinine blood urea nitr...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the in vitro activity of antileishmanial drugs, paromomycin and miltefosine, to generate Th-1-biased immunomodulation in hosts against intracellular Leishmania donovani. METHODS In silico protein-ligand interaction and in vitro drug-cell interaction assays were performed. Interaction assays of TLR4-deficient HEK293 cells and HEK293 cells engineered to express either TLR...

Helicobacter pylori sheds outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) that contain many surface elements of bacteria. Dendritic cells (DCs) play a major role in directing the nature of adaptive immune responses against H. pylori, and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) has been implicated in regulating function of DCs. In addition, HO-1 is important for adaptive immunity and the stress response. Although H. pylori-deri...

Cell protection against different noxious stimuli like oxidative stress or chemical toxins plays a central role in the treatment of many diseases. The inducible heme oxygenase isoform, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), is known to protect cells against a variety of harmful conditions including apoptosis. Because a number of medium strong electrophiles from a series of α-X-substituted 2',3,4,4'-tetrameth...

This paper describes the effect of NF-κB and Nrf2 transcription factor modulators on depolymerization periodontal extracellular matrix biopolymers in early post-traumatic period following modeling an experimental traumatic brain injury (TBI). The study was conducted 30 white Wistar male rats weighing 180-220 g, divided into 6 groups: 1st (pseudo-traumatized animals, control 1) scalp pinched wit...

1. Chronic oxidative stress and inflammation are major mediators of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and result in impaired activation of the cytoprotective transcription factor Nrf2. Given the role of oxidative stress and inflammation in CKD pathogenesis, strategies aimed at restoring Nrf2 activity may attenuate CKD progression. 2. The present study investigated whether the synthetic triterpenoid ...

The common, co-segregating Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), Asp299Gly and Thr399Ile, are associated with hyporesponsiveness to inhaled lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and increased susceptibility to Gram negative pathogens in humans. The purpose of this study was to identify the relative contributions of the Asp299Gly and the Thr399Ile variants in inhi...