Publications by authors named "MingFang Lu"

Alveolar macrophages (AMs) are sentinels in the airways, where they sense and respond to invading microbes and other stimuli. Unlike macrophages in other locations, AMs can remain responsive to Gram-negative lipopolysaccharides (LPS) after they have responded to LPS in vivo (they do not develop "endotoxin tolerance"), suggesting that the alveolar microenvironment may influence their responses. Although alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) normally limit AMs' innate responses, preventing inflammation induced by harmless antigens in the lung, how AECs influence the innate responses of AMs to infectious agents has been uncertain.

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Adipose tissue macrophages (ATM) are key players in the development of obesity and associated metabolic inflammation which contributes to systemic metabolic dysfunction. We here found that fibroblast activation protein α (FAP), a well-known marker of cancer-associated fibroblast, is selectively expressed in murine and human ATM among adipose tissue-infiltrating leukocytes. Macrophage FAP deficiency protects mice against diet-induced obesity and proinflammatory macrophage infiltration in obese adipose tissues, thereby alleviating hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance.

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Background And Purpose: Psoriasis is a common autoimmune skin disease that significantly diminishes patients' quality of life. Interactions between primary afferents of the somatosensory system and the cutaneous immune system mediate the pathogenesis of psoriasis. This study aims to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of how primary sensory neurons regulate psoriasis formation.

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Although alveolar macrophages (AMs) play important roles in preventing and eliminating pulmonary infections, little is known about their regulation in healthy animals. Since exposure to LPS often renders cells hyporesponsive to subsequent LPS exposures ("tolerant"), we tested the hypothesis that LPS produced in the intestine reaches the lungs and stimulates AMs, rendering them tolerant. We found that resting AMs were more likely to be tolerant in mice lacking acyloxyacyl hydrolase (AOAH), the host lipase that degrades and inactivates LPS; isolated Aoah-/- AMs were less responsive to LPS stimulation and less phagocytic than were Aoah+/+ AMs.

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Diabetes mellitus (DM) affects bone metabolism and causes osteoporosis. Musashi 1 (MSI1), a member of the Musashi family, regulates protein expression by targeting protein mRNA and has been reported to play an important role in osteogenic differentiation. Therefore, this paper attempts to explore the role of MSI1 in diabetic osteoporosis and discussing its specific mechanism.

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The intestinal mucosal immune environment requires multiple immune cells to maintain homeostasis. Although intestinal B cells are among the most important immune cells, little is known about the mechanism that they employ to regulate immune homeostasis. In this study, we found that CD11b B cells significantly accumulated in the gut lamina propria and Peyer's patches in dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis mouse models and patients with ulcerative colitis.

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Oxidized phospholipids have diverse biological activities, many of which can be pathological, yet how they are inactivated in vivo is not fully understood. Here, we present evidence that a highly conserved host lipase, acyloxyacyl hydrolase (AOAH), can play a significant role in reducing the pro-inflammatory activities of two prominent products of phospholipid oxidation, 1-palmitoyl-2-glutaryl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and 1-palmitoyl-2-(5-oxovaleroyl)-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine. AOAH removed the sn-2 and sn-1 acyl chains from both lipids and reduced their ability to induce macrophage inflammasome activation and cell death in vitro and acute lung injury in mice.

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Gualou Xiebai Decoction (GXD), a classic prescription, is widely used to dealing with inflammatory diseases in China for thousands of years. Abnormal metabolic state of bile acids (BAs) is confirmed to cause intestinal epithelial barrier dysfunction. In preliminary work, we observed that GXD could decrease intestinal permeability in hyperlipidemia mice.

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Although microbe-associated molecular pattern (MAMP) molecules can promote cholesterol accumulation in macrophages, the existence of a host-derived MAMP inactivation mechanism that prevents foam cell formation has not been described. Here, we tested the ability of acyloxyacyl hydrolase (AOAH), the host lipase that inactivates gram-negative bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPSs), to prevent foam cell formation in mice. Following exposure to small intraperitoneal dose(s) of LPSs, macrophages produced more low-density lipoprotein receptor and less apolipoprotein E and accumulated more cholesterol than did macrophages.

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Although organ hypofunction and immunosuppression are life-threatening features of severe sepsis, the hypofunctioning organs and immune cells usually regain normal functionality if patients survive. Because tissue interstitial fluid can become acidic during the septic response, we tested the hypothesis that low extracellular pH (pHe) can induce reversible metabolic and functional changes in peritoneal macrophages from C57BL/6J mice. When compared with macrophages cultured at normal pHe, macrophages living in an acidic medium used less glucose and exogenous fatty acid to produce ATP.

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Animals can sense the presence of microbes in their tissues and mobilize their own defenses by recognizing and responding to conserved microbial structures (often called microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs)). Successful host defenses may kill the invaders, yet the host animal may fail to restore homeostasis if the stimulatory microbial structures are not silenced. Although mice have many mechanisms for limiting their responses to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a major Gram-negative bacterial MAMP, a highly conserved host lipase is required to extinguish LPS sensing in tissues and restore homeostasis.

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Background: In the home care industry, the assignment and tracking of care services are controlled by care centers that are centralized in nature and prone to inefficient information transmission. A lack of trust among the involved parties, information opaqueness, and large manual manipulation result in lower process efficiency.

Objective: This study aimed to explore and demonstrate the application of blockchain and smart contract technologies to innovate/renovate home care services for harvesting the desired blockchain benefits of process transparency, traceability, and interoperability.

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Macrophages are the first-line host defense that the invading Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) encounters. It has been recently reported that host aerobic glycolysis was elevated post the infection by a couple of virulent mycobacterial species. However, whether this metabolic transition is required for host defense against intracellular pathogens and the underlying mechanisms remain to be further investigated.

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Dendritic cells (DCs), as professional antigen‑presenting cells are essential for the initial activation of adaptive antitumor immunity. CD1d is considered to present phospholipid and glycosphingolipid antigens to NKT cells. However, it is currently unknown whether CD1d expression on DCs is capable of enhancing antitumor immunity, particularly T‑cell related immunity.

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Gliomas, the most common primary neoplasms in the brain, are notorious for their ability to evade the immune response. Despite microglial infiltration in gliomas, expression of MHC class II molecules in those microglia is compromised. Here, we report that Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) activation downregulated expression of MHC class II molecules in microglia in an orthotopic murine glioma model.

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Allergic asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease primarily mediated by Th2 immune mechanisms. Numerous studies have suggested that early life exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is negatively associated with allergic asthma. One proposed mechanism invokes desensitization of lung epithelial cells by LPS.

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Background: Immune activation and suppression in patients with major depressive disorders (MDD) have been both reported in different studies. We assume that these findings may indicate innate immunological tolerance in MDD, with subclinical elevated level of proinflammatory cytokines and the decrease in innate immune response while encountering pathogens.

Methods: Peripheral monocytes of 50 untreated patients with MDD and 40 healthy controls were isolated and cultured, with or without 10 ng/ml lipopolysacchride (LPS) for 6 h (6 h, LPS+/-), and with LPS for 18 h (18, LPS+).

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Pulmonary infection is the most common risk factor for acute lung injury (ALI). Innate immune responses induced by Microbe-Associated Molecular Pattern (MAMP) molecules are essential for lung defense but can lead to tissue injury. Little is known about how MAMP molecules are degraded in the lung or how MAMP degradation/inactivation helps prevent or ameliorate the harmful inflammation that produces ALI.

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Gram-negative bacterial LPS induce murine B-cell activation and innate (polyclonal) Ab production. Mouse B cells express the LPS signaling receptor (TLR4), yet how LPS activates B-cell responses in vivo is not known. Can LPS directly stimulate B cells to induce innate Ab production? Is activation of non-B cells also required? To address these questions, we transfused LPS-responsive (Tlr4(+/+)) or non-responsive (Tlr4(-/-)) B cells into LPS-responsive or non-responsive mice.

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Objective: To observe the characteristics of vertical cast-off bloodstain pattern by different hitting-tools.

Methods: The regular hitting tools, a kitchen knife, a dirk, a plane set-hammer and an iron pipe, were selected. At a distance of 30 cm away from the wall, the hitting tool with 5 mL fresh chicken blood made the cast-off bloodstain from top to bottom.

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Lipid-laden macrophages contribute to pathologies as diverse as atherosclerosis and tuberculosis. Three common stimuli are known to promote macrophage lipid storage: low tissue oxygen tension (pO2), low extracellular pH (pHo), and exposure to agonists such as bacterial LPS. Noting that cells responding to low pO2 or agonistic bacterial molecules often decrease pHo by secreting lactic and other carboxylic acids, we studied how pHo influences the stimulation of triacylglycerol (TAG) storage by low pO2 and LPS.

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Interleukin (IL) 17-secreting CD4(+) helper T cells (Th17 cells) are essential for host defense at mucosal surfaces, and Th17 cell dysregulation can result in autoimmunity. Exposure to microbial products, such as bacterial LPS, can affect the ability of dendritic cells (DCs) to polarize Th17 cells. Acyloxyacyl hydrolase (AOAH) is a mammalian enzyme expressed by antigen (Ag)-presenting cells that deacylates and thereby inactivates LPS in host tissues.

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Macrophages in infected tissues may sense microbial molecules that significantly alter their metabolism. In a seeming paradox, these critical host defense cells often respond by increasing glucose catabolism while simultaneously storing fatty acids (FA) as triglycerides (TAG) in lipid droplets. We used a load-chase strategy to study the mechanisms that promote long term retention of TAG in murine and human macrophages.

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Measures that bolster the resolution phase of infectious diseases may offer new opportunities for improving outcome. Here we show that inactivation of microbial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) can be required for animals to recover from the innate immune tolerance that follows exposure to Gram-negative bacteria. When wildtype mice are exposed to small parenteral doses of LPS or Gram-negative bacteria, their macrophages become reprogrammed (tolerant) for a few days before they resume normal function.

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The extraordinary potency and pathological relevance of gram-negative bacterial LPSs have made them very popular experimental agonists, yet little is known about what happens to these stimulatory molecules within animal tissues. We tracked fluorescent and radiolabeled LPS from a s.c.

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