Co-expression of nuclear and cytoplasmic HMGB1 is inversely associated with infiltration of CD45RO+ T cells and prognosis in patients with stage IIIB colon cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The intratumoral infiltration of T cells, especially memory T cells, is associated with a favorable prognosis in early colorectal cancers. However, the mechanism underlying this process remains elusive. This study examined whether high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), a damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) molecule, is involved in the infiltration of T cells and disease progression in locally advanced colon cancer.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Seventy-two cases of pathologically-confirmed specimens were obtained from patients with stage IIIB (T3N1M0) colon cancer who underwent radical resection between January 1999 and May 2002 at the Cancer Center of Sun Yat-Sen University. The density of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) within the tumor tissue and the expression of HMGB1 in the cancer cells were examined via immunohistochemical analysis. The phenotype of CD45RO+ cells was confirmed using a flow cytometric assay. The association between HMGB1 expression, the density of TILs, and the 5-year survival rate were analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The density of CD45RO+ T cells within the tumor was independently prognostic, although a higher density of CD3+ T cells was also associated with a favorable prognosis. More importantly, the expression of HMGB1 was observed in both the nucleus and the cytoplasm (co-expression pattern) in a subset of colon cancer tissues, whereas nuclear-only expression of HMGB1 (nuclear expression pattern) existed in most of the cancer tissues and normal mucosa. The co-expression pattern of HMGB1 in colon cancer cells was inversely associated with the infiltration of both CD3+ and CD45RO+ T cells and 5-year survival rates.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study revealed that the co-expression of HMGB1 is inversely associated with the infiltration of CD45RO+ T cells and prognosis in patients with stage IIIB colon cancer, indicating that the distribution patterns of HMGB1 might contribute to the progression of colon cancer via modulation of the local immune response.</p

Non-redundant properties of IL-1alpha and IL-1beta during acute colon inflammation in mice

Item does not contain fulltextOBJECTIVE: The differential role of the IL-1 agonists, IL-1alpha, which is mainly cell-associated versus IL-1beta, which is mostly secreted, was studied in colon inflammation. DESIGN: Dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) colitis was induced in mice globally deficient in either IL-1alpha or IL-1beta, and in wild-type mice, or in mice with conditional deletion of IL-1alpha in intestinal epithelial cells (IECs). Bone marrow transplantation experiments were performed to assess the role of IL-1alpha or IL-1beta of myeloid versus colon non-hematopoietic cells in inflammation and repair in acute colitis. RESULTS: IL-1alpha released from damaged IECs acts as an alarmin by initiating and propagating colon inflammation, as IL-1alpha deficient mice exhibited mild disease symptoms with improved recovery. IL-1beta is involved in repair of IECs and reconstitution of the epithelial barrier during the resolution of colitis; its deficiency correlates with disease exacerbation. Neutralisation of IL-1alpha in control mice during acute colitis led to alleviation of clinical and histological manifestations, whereas treatment with rIL-1Ra or anti-IL-1beta antibodies was not effective. Repair after colitis correlated with accumulation of CD8 and regulatory T cells in damaged crypts. CONCLUSIONS: The role of IL-1alpha and IL-1beta differs in DSS-induced colitis in that IL-1alpha, mainly of colon epithelial cells is inflammatory, whereas IL-1beta, mainly of myeloid cell origin, promotes healing and repair. Given the dissimilar functions of each IL-1 agonistic molecule, an IL-1 receptor blockade would not be as therapeutically effective as specific neutralising of IL-1alpha, which leaves IL-1beta function intact

Cre Driver Mice Targeting Macrophages.

The Cre/loxP system is a widely applied technology for site-specific genetic manipulation in mice. This system allows for deletion of the genes of interest in specific cells, tissues, and whole organism to generate a diversity of conditional knockout mouse strains. Additionally, the Cre/loxP system is useful for development of cell- and tissue-specific reporter mice for lineage tracing, and cell-specific conditional depletion models in mice. Recently, the Cre/loxP technique was extensively adopted to characterize the monocyte/macrophage biology in mouse models. Compared to other relatively homogenous immune cell types such as neutrophils, mast cells, and basophils, monocytes/macrophages represent a highly heterogeneous population which lack specific markers or transcriptional factors. Though great efforts have been made toward establishing macrophage-specific Cre driver mice in the past decade, all of the current available strains are not perfect with regard to their depletion efficiency and targeting specificity for endogenous macrophages. Here we overview the commonly used Cre driver mouse strains targeting macrophages and discuss their major applications and limitations. Methods Mol Biol 2018; 1784:263-27

Innate lymphoid cells in defense, immunopathology and immunotherapy

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