TRAF6 Mediates IL-1β/LPS-Induced Suppression of TGF-β Signaling through Its Interaction with the Type III TGF-β Receptor

Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) is an important anti-inflammatory cytokine that modulates and resolves inflammatory responses. Recent studies have demonstrated that inflammation enhances neoplastic risk and potentiates tumor progression. In the evolution of cancer, pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β must overcome the anti-inflammatory effects of TGF-β to boost pro-inflammatory responses in epithelial cells. Here we show that IL-1β or Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) suppresses TGF-β-induced anti-inflammatory signaling in a NF-κB-independent manner. TRAF6, a key molecule in IL-1β signaling, mediates this suppressive effect through interaction with the type III TGF-β receptor (TβRIII), which is TGF-β-dependent and requires type I TGF-β receptor (TβRI) kinase activity. TβRI phosphorylates TβRIII at residue S829, which promotes the TRAF6/TβRIII interaction and consequent sequestration of TβRIII from the TβRII/TβRI complex. Our data indicate that IL-1β enhances the pro-inflammatory response by suppressing TGF-βsignaling through TRAF6-mediated sequestration of TβRIII, which may be an important contributor to the early stages of tumor progression

Reader level filtering for efficient query processing in RFID middleware

In RFID systems, middleware is used to filter a large amount of streaming data gathered continuously from readers to process application requests. The high volume of data makes the middleware often in a highly overloaded situation. The reader filtering capability can be used to reduce data volume and middleware work-load. However, if the middleware dispatches query conditions to readers without any adjustment, it may generate a huge amount of duplicate data and imposes considerable load on the middleware. As such, an appropriate schema for data volume reduction is required. In this paper, we propose a query decomposition technique to divide queries into sub-queries for middleware and reader level execution. This new approach of query execution resolves the problem of duplicate data generation. Our experiments show that the proposed approach considerably improves the performance of middleware by reducing query processing time and network traffic between reader and middleware

Performance Evaluation and Optimization of Digital Signature Component for ePedigree System

To fight the counterfeiting of pharmaceutical products, many drug manufacturers are implementing ePedigree system using RFID technology. The ePedigree records all the distribution history of a product right from the start (manufacturer) until it reaches the consumer. But even the ePedigree information itself could be forged. Thus, the ePedigree contains digital signature(s) information, which is added respectively every time certain party appending information to the pedigree. The current algorithm used for the digital signature system is RSA. In this paper, we will use ECC instead of RSA. ECC algorithm for Digital Signature is called Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA), it has greater security and more efficient performance than the RSA algorithm

LIT middleware: design and implementation of RFID middleware based on the EPC network architecture

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology can be used to significantly improve the efficiency of business processes by providing the capability of automatic identification and data capture. RFID system must implement functions to posses the enormous event data generated quickly by RFID readers. The proliferation of RFID tags and readers will require dedicated middleware solutions that manage readers and process event data. In this paper, we describe our middleware (called LIT Middleware) architecture with key features and also illustrate overall functional components of the middleware software as well as the system framework. Our component based middleware architecture provides extensibility, scalability and abstraction, and is also compatible with EPCglobal standards