Project description:Examining the effect of CMPF treatment in the livers of mice. This study examines both the prevention and reversal of steatosis. We used arrays to determine the pathways through which CMPF prevents and reverses steatosis
Project description:Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms (DRESS) is a severe, drug-induced reaction that involves both the skin and viscera. To understand the immunological components of DRESS, we prospectively assessed 40 DRESS patients. The patients were evaluated for phenotype, cytokine secretion, repertoire of CD4+ and CD8+ peripheral blood T lymphocytes and viral reactivation. A subgroup of patients was analyzed using microarrays. Patients with carbamazepine- or minocycline- induced DRESS were pooled separately for analysis. RNA from total PBMCs and CD4+ and CD8+-sorted blood T cells was amplified. Expression of 894 genes of immunological interest was analyzed with a PIQOR TM arrays (Miltenyi). Gene expression was individually compared between day 0 and 90 in the minocycline-induced DRESS patients. Control groups included patients taking minocycline carbamazepine, and healthy patients without medication.
Project description:Adverse cardiac remodeling contributes to the development and progression of heart failure (HF) driven, in part, by inappropriate sympathetic nervous system activation. While blockade of β-adrenergic receptors (β-AR) is a common therapeutic strategy in HF, not all patients respond necessitating elucidation of additional therapeutic approaches. Minocycline is an FDA-approved antibiotic with pleiotropic properties, independent of its antimicrobial action, and recent evidence suggests it may act by altering gene expression via changes in miRNA expression. Therefore, we hypothesized that minocycline would prevent adverse cardiac remodeling induced by the β-AR agonist isoproterenol involving relevant alterations in the miRNA-mRNA transcriptome. Male C57BL/6J mice received Iso (30 mg/kg/d, sc) or vehicle for 21 days via osmotic minipump and daily treatment with either minocycline (50 mg/kg, ip) or sterile saline. Isoproterenol infusion induced cardiac hypertrophy, with no change in cardiac function, that was prevented by minocycline. Total mRNA sequencing revealed that isoproterenol altered gene networks associated with inflammation and metabolism while activation of fibrosis was predicted by integrated miRNA-mRNA sequencing, involving miR-21, -30a, -34a, -92a, and -150, among others. Conversely, the cardiac miRNA-mRNA transcriptome predicted inhibition of fibrosis in hearts from mice treated with minocycline plus isoproterenol involving anti-fibrotic shifts in Atf3 and Itgb6 gene expression associated with upregulation of miR-194. Consistent with these gene signatures, picrosirius red staining confirmed isoproterenol-induced cardiac fibrosis and that this was prevented by minocycline. These results demonstrate the therapeutic potential of minocycline to attenuate adverse cardiac remodeling via miRNA-mRNA-dependent mechanisms, especially related to reduced cardiac fibrosis.
Project description:Recent studies implicate microglia alterations in the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of depression. For example, chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) in mice can cause degeneration of microglia and depressive-like symptoms, which can be reversed by microglia stimulating drugs. To further test the causal role of microglia in CUS-induced depression and its reversal by an anti-depressive procedure, we examined the effects of microglia depletion with the CSF-1 antagonist PLX5622 or pharmacological blockade of microglial activation with minocycline on normal mood-related behavior, CUS-induced depressive-like symptoms, and the amelioration of these symptoms by electroconvulsive treatment (ECT). We report that microglia-depleted mice showed no depression, anxiety or spatial memory disturbances. Microglia depletion had no effect on the development of CUS-induced depressive-like symptoms and suppressed neurogenesis, but it completely abrogated the beneficial effects of ECT on depression and neurogenesis, as well as on the all ECT-induced transcriptomic changes. ECT induced several morphological changes in microglia, suggestive of increased activation status, and blockade of this activation by minocycline attenuated the anti-depressive and pro-neurogenesis effect of ECT and reduced the number of contacts between microglia and neurogenic cells. The immune checkpoint gene Lag3, whose expression by microglia was increased following CUS, was the only microglial transcript significantly reduced by ECT. Furthermore, treatment of depressed-like mice with a LAG3 monoclonal antibody was further tested.