Food allergies have become a health concern worldwide. Around 6% to 10% of children are allergic to cow's milk proteins. We have previously characterized colorectal polyps in patients sensitized to food allergens.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSeveral inflammatory processes of the bowel are characterized by an accumulation of eosinophils at inflammation sites. The mechanisms that govern mucosal infiltration with eosinophils are not fully understood. In this work, we studied the colorectal polyp-confined tissue containing eosinophils and we hypothesized that intestinal epithelial cells are the cell source of eotaxin-3 or CCL26, a potent chemoattractant for eosinophils.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), is characterized by chronic, relapsing intestinal inflammation. Galectin-1 (Gal-1) is an endogenous lectin with key pro-resolving roles, including induction of T-cell apoptosis and secretion of immunosuppressive cytokines. Despite considerable progress, the relevance of Gal-1-induced T-cell death in inflamed tissue from human IBD patients has not been ascertained.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUlcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, the two main forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), are immunologically mediated disorders. Several therapies are focused on activated T cells as key targets. Although has shown anti-inflammatory effects in animal models, few studies were done using human mucosal T cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe mucosal immune system constitutes a physical and dynamic barrier against foreign antigens and pathogens and exerts control mechanisms to maintain intestinal tolerance to the microbiota and food antigens. Chronic alterations of the intestinal homeostasis predispose to inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, such as Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). There is growing evidence that the frequency and severity of these diseases are increasing worldwide, which may be probably due to changes in environmental factors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntestinal epithelial cell culture is important for biological, functional, and immunological studies. Since enterocytes have a short in vivo life span due to anoikis, we aimed to establish a novel and reproducible method to prolong the survival of mouse and human cells. Cells were isolated following a standard procedure, and cultured on ordered-cow's collagen membranes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic and relapsing inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal tract including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Galectins, defined by shared consensus amino acid sequence and affinity for β-galactosides, are critical modulators of the inflammatory response. However, the relevance of the galectin network in the pathogenesis of human IBD has not yet been explored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGalectins play key roles in the inflammatory cascade. In this study, we aimed to analyze the effect of galectin-1 (Gal-1) in the function of intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) isolated from healthy and inflamed mucosa. IECs isolated from mice or patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) were incubated with different pro-inflammatory cytokines, and Gal-1 binding, secretion of homeostatic factors and viability were assessed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHere, we used a murine model to describe and compare the pathogenic potential of the Argentinean equid herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) AR8 strain with the Japanese HH1 reference strain. In AR8-inoculated animals, clinical signs began earlier, but the viremic phase was shorter. Virus isolation and DNA detection in the lungs, liver and spleen were positive for both strains at different times postinfection (pi).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe complex of vanadyl(IV) cation with oxodiacetate, VO(oda) caused an inhibitory effect on the proliferation of the human colon adenocarcinoma cell line Caco-2 in the range of 25-100 μM (P < 0.001). This inhibition was partially reversed by scavengers of free radicals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this paper, we examine the importance of glutathione in symbiosis, using a glutathione biosynthetic gshB mutant derived from Rhizobium tropici CIAT899, a common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) endosymbiont. Plants infected with the mutant strain presented a delayed nodulation phenotype and a reduction in the dry weight of aerial part of plants, suggesting diminished nitrogen-fixation activity. In addition, bacterial gshB expression was assayed in wild-type infected nodules, during the different steps of nodulation, and found to increase in mature and early senescent nodules.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobiology (Reading)
April 2007
Rhizobium tropici CIAT899 displays intrinsic tolerance to acidity, and efficiently nodulates Phaseolus vulgaris at low pH. By characterizing a gshB mutant strain, glutathione has been previously demonstrated to be essential for R. tropici tolerance to acid stress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRhizobia form a symbiotic relationship with plants of the legume family to produce nitrogen-fixing root nodules under nitrogen-limiting conditions. We have examined the importance of glutathione (GSH) during free-living growth and symbiosis of Sinorhizobium meliloti. An S.
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