tuberculosis (tb) and tobacco use are two major alarming global health issues posing immense threats to human populations. mycobacterium tuberculosis (mtb) by activation of macrophages could induce the sequences of cells activation and releases of inflammatory cytokines such as cxcl-8, il-12 and tnf-α which in turn induces the immune system network. however no information is available on other ...

Viruses encode proteins that disrupt chemokine responses. The murine gammaherpesvirus 68 gene M3 encodes a chemokine binding protein (vCKBP-3) which has no sequence similarity to chemokine receptors but inhibits chemokine receptor binding and activity. We have used a panel of CXCL8 analogs to identify the structural requirements for CXCL8 to bind to vCKBP-3 in a scintillation proximity assay. O...

Biological functions of proteins are influenced by posttranslational modifications such as on/off switching by phosphorylation and modulation by glycosylation. Proteolytic processing regulates cytokine and chemokine activities. In this study, we report that natural posttranslational citrullination or deimination alters the biological activities of the neutrophil chemoattractant and angiogenic c...

Chemokine CXCL8 plays a pivotal role in host immune response by recruiting neutrophils to the infection site. CXCL8 exists as monomers and dimers, and mediates recruitment by interacting with glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and activating CXCR1 and CXCR2 receptors. How CXCL8 monomer and dimer interactions with both receptors and GAGs mediate trafficking is poorly understood. In particular, both hapto...

BACKGROUND Mucosal CXC chemokines recruit inflammatory cells to the infected urinary tract. The chemokine response repertoire of the urinary tract and the relationship to disease severity have not been examined, however. METHODS This study quantified CXC (CXCL1, CXCL3, CXCL5, CXCL8, CXCL9, and CXCL10) and CC (CCL2, CCL4, and CCL5) chemokines in sequential urine samples obtained from 50 patien...

MOTIVATION We present an application of Bayesian variable selection to the novel detection of sequence elements that confer negative design to protein structure and function. As an illustration, we analyze the different dimer interfaces between the CXCL8 chemokine family with the CCL4 and CCL2 chemokine families to discover the changes that disfavor CXCL8 of quaternary structure. RESULTS In c...

The outgrowth of Porphyromonas gingivalis within the inflammatory subgingival plaque is associated with periodontitis characterized by periodontal tissue destruction, loss of alveolar bone, periodontal pocket formation, and eventually, tooth loss. Potential virulence factors of P. gingivalis are peptidylarginine deiminase (PPAD), an enzyme modifying free or peptide-bound arginine to citrulline,...

Chemokine-glycosaminoglycan (GAG) interactions are thought to result in the formation of tissue-bound chemokine gradients. We hypothesized that the binding of chemokines to GAGs would increase neutrophil migration toward CXC chemokines instilled into lungs of mice. To test this hypothesis we compared neutrophil migration toward recombinant human CXCL8 (rhCXCL8) and two mutant forms of CXCL8, wh...