| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,900,000)
Fiscal Year 2003: ¥1,800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000)
Fiscal Year 2002: ¥2,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000)
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| Research Abstract |
Savere infection and shock syndromes are often associated with intense body reactions called macrophage activation syndrome, characteried by monocyte activation, hypercytokinemia, circulatory failure and multiple organ dysfunction.To prevent these deleterious consequenoes upon pathogen exposure, the body defense system has to be supplied not only with effective antigen-specific immune response, but at the same time with tightly controlled regulatory system of inflammation.Previous reports indicated that macrophages infiltrate into various organs in various inflammatory illnesses and they contribute to the pathogenesis of organ injury.But at the same time, it is suggested that mecrophages themselves play roles in counteracting inflammation locally.Heme oxygenase-1(HO-1) and its related products are the groups of key molecules produced by monocytes/macrophages to regulate excessive inflammatory reactions.
We have previously shown that HO-1 production is rapidly induced in circulating mono
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cytes upon oxidative stress and a patient with HO-1 deficiency was associated with sustained inflammation throughout his life.These findings suggesed that monocytes play cardinal roles in controlling the level of inflammation during various inflammatory illnesses in vivo. In addition, GT repeat polymorphism within the promoter region of HO-1 gene is associated with the levels of induced HO-1 activity.Furthermore, epidemiological studies have shown that there exist strong correlation between the length of GT repeats and the incidence of multiple of inflammatory illnesses.These studies indicate that the levels of inducible HO-1 controls the intensity of inflammatory reaction elicited upon certain oxidative stresses.
In this study regulatory mechanism of HO-1 production by circulating monocytes was analyzed and tried to darify the role of HO-1 in the pathogenesis of various inflammatory disorders.Based on these findings, further studies were performed to develop a novel therapeutic approach to counteract excessive inflammation, by modulating HO-1 production in vivo.
It was shown in this study that circulating monocytes are the major producer of HO-1 both in vivo andin vitro.HO-1 production by activated monocytes was associated with phenotypical changes in monocytes during acute inflammation.HO-1 production was preferentially observed within a particular subpopulation of monocytes, indicating that it is possible to direct the development of anti-inflammatory therapy by manipulating the numbers and functions of This particular subpopulation of monocytes. Less
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