Excessive activation of the TLR9/TGF-β1/PDGF-B pathway in the peripheral blood of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract Background Our aim is to study the existence of the TLR9/TGF-β1/PDGF-B pathway in healthy humans and patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and to explore its possible involvement in the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis (LN). Methods Protein levels of the cytokines were detected by ELISA. mRNA levels of the cytokines were analyzed by real-time PCR. MTT assay was used to test the proliferation of mesangial cells under different treatments. Results Compared to healthy controls (N Control = 56), levels of Toll-like receptor (TLR)9, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, and platelet-derived growth factor B (PDGF-B) were increased significantly in the peripheral blood of SLE patients (N SLE = 112). Significant correlations between the levels of TLR9, TGF-β1, and PDGF-B were observed in both healthy controls and SLE patients. The levels of TGF-β1 and PDGF-B were greatly enhanced by TLR9 activation in primary cell cultures. The proliferation of mesangial cells induced by the plasma of SLE patients was significantly higher than that induced by healthy controls; PDGF-B was involved in this process. The protein levels of PDGF-B homodimer correlated with the levels of urine protein in SLE patients with LN (N LN =38). Conclusions The TLR9/TGF-β1/PDGF-B pathway exists in humans and can be excessively activated in SLE patients. High levels of PDGF-B may result in overproliferation of mesangial cells in the kidney that are involved in the development of glomerulonephritis and LN. Further studies are necessary to identify TLR9, TGF-β1, and PDGF-B as new therapeutic targets to prevent the development of glomerulonephritis and LN

Stimulation of Wood Degradation by Daedaleopsis confragosa and D. tricolor

Biological pretreatment of the lignocellulosic residues, in which white-rot fungi have a crucial role, has many advantages compared to the chemical, physical, and physico-chemical methods of delignification and therefore attracts increasing scientific attention. Regarding the fact that properties and capacities of the ligninolytic enzymes of Daedaleopsis spp. are still unknown, the aim of this study was to research how nitrogen sources and inducers affect the potential of Daedaleopsis confragosa and Daedaleopsis tricolor to degrade cherry sawdust. NH4NO3, (NH4)2SO4, and peptone were tested as nitrogen sources, while veratryl alcohol, p-anisidine, vanillic acid, and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride were the studied inducers. As Mn-dependent peroxidase and laccase were the leader enzymes and cherry sawdust/peptone medium the best stimulator of their activities, the effect of inducers on delignification potential of these species was studied during fermentation of that substrate. Veratryl alcohol was the best stimulator of laccase and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride of Mn-dependent peroxidase activity (27,610.0 and 1338.4 U/L, respectively). These inducers also increased cherry sawdust delignification selectivity, particularly in D. tricolor in the presence of phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (lignin:hemicellulose:cellulose = 32.1%:0.9%:11.7%). Owing to the presented results, studied species could have an important role in the phase of lignocellulose pretreatment in various biotechnological processes. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature