37 research outputs found
Eye bank issues: II. Preservation techniques: warm versus cold storage
Most of the tissue used for penetrating keratoplasty is issued through eye banks that store the corneoscleral button either in hypothermic storage at 2–6°C or in organ culture at 31–37°C
The Urokinase Receptor (uPAR) Facilitates Clearance of Borrelia burgdorferi
The causative agent of Lyme borreliosis, the spirochete Borrelia
burgdorferi, has been shown to induce expression of the urokinase
receptor (uPAR); however, the role of uPAR in the immune response against
Borrelia has never been investigated. uPAR not only acts as
a proteinase receptor, but can also, dependently or independently of ligation to
uPA, directly affect leukocyte function. We here demonstrate that uPAR is
upregulated on murine and human leukocytes upon exposure to B.
burgdorferi both in vitro as well as in vivo. Notably, B.
burgdorferi-inoculated C57BL/6 uPAR knock-out mice harbored
significantly higher Borrelia numbers compared to WT controls.
This was associated with impaired phagocytotic capacity of B.
burgdorferi by uPAR knock-out leukocytes in vitro. B.
burgdorferi numbers in vivo, and phagocytotic capacity in vitro,
were unaltered in uPA, tPA (low fibrinolytic activity) and PAI-1 (high
fibrinolytic activity) knock-out mice compared to WT controls. Strikingly, in
uPAR knock-out mice partially backcrossed to a B. burgdorferi
susceptible C3H/HeN background, higher B. burgdorferi numbers
were associated with more severe carditis and increased local TLR2 and
IL-1β mRNA expression. In conclusion, in B. burgdorferi
infection, uPAR is required for phagocytosis and adequate eradication of the
spirochete from the heart by a mechanism that is independent of binding of uPAR
to uPA or its role in the fibrinolytic system