Release kinetics of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist in the equine whole blood

Characteristic inflammatory biomarkers in an equine model of persistent synovitis induced by the intra-articular administration of monoiodoacetic acid

Persistent synovitis damages the articular cartilage in horses. To evaluate the effectiveness of treatment for synovitis using a model induced by intra-articular administration of monoiodoacetic acid (MIA), it is necessary to identify inflammatory biomarkers characteristic of the MIA model. Synovitis was induced by administering MIA into the unilateral antebrachiocarpal joints of five horses, and saline was injected into the contralateral joints as a control on day 0. Clinical and ultrasonographic examinations and synovial fluid collection were performed on days 0, 1, 2, 7, 14, 21, 28, and 35. Leukocyte, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) concentrations in the synovial fluid were measured. Synovium was obtained after euthanasia on day 42 and histologically examined before quantification of the gene expression of inflammatory biomarkers by real-time PCR. Acute inflammatory symptoms persisted for approximately two weeks before returning to control levels. However, some indicators of chronic inflammation remained elevated until day 35. On day 42, synovitis continued histologically, with osteoclasts. The expressions of matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP13), a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs 4 (ADAMTS4), receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-Β ligand (RANKL), and collagen type I α2 chain (Col1a2) were significantly higher in the MIA model than in the control. In the MIA model, representative inflammatory biomarkers in the chronic inflammatory stage were persistently expressed in both synovial fluid and tissue, suggesting that they may be useful for the assessment of the anti-inflammatory effect of drugs.

Establishment of an Ex Vivo Tissue Culture Model for Evaluation of Antitumor Efficacy in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

There are many potential immunotherapeutic targets for cancer immunotherapy, which should be assessed for efficacy before they enter clinical trials. Here we established an ex vivo cultured patient-derived tumor tissue model to evaluate antitumor effectiveness of one VISTA inhibitor, given that our previous study showed that VISTA was selectively highly expressed in human clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) tumors. We observed that all the tested patients responded to the anti-VISTA monoclonal antibody as manifested by TNF-α production, but only a small fraction were responders to the anti-PD-1 antibody. Co-blockade of VISTA and PD-1 resulted in a synergistic effect in 20% of RCC patients. Taken together, these findings indicate that this ex vivo tumor slice culture model represents a viable tool to evaluate antitumor efficacies for the inhibitors of immune checkpoints and further supports that VISTA could serve as a promising target for immunotherapy in ccRCC.

Evaluation of cytokines and sialic acids contents in horses naturally infected with Theileria equi

This study was undertaken to assess the effects of T. equi infection on serum concentrations of some important cytokines including interferon-γ (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), IL-1α, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12α, IL-12β, IL-18, as well as total, protein and lipid binding sialic acids (TSA, PBSA and LBSA). Furthermore, any probable relation among the parasitemia, cytokines and sialic acids (SAs) were calculated using Pearson correlation and simple linear regression. Almost 300 draft horses (Kurdish-breed) with age of 3-4 years old from north-west of Iran were examined and an infected group comprised of 28 mares, naturally infected with T. equi, was identified and divided into 3 subgroups according to their parasitemia rates (low <1 %, moderate 1-3 % and high 3-5 %). Twenty healthy horses were considered as a control. Characterization and differentiation of piroplasmosis were conducted using routine hematological procedures and specific PCR assay. The results revealed a significant increase (P < 0.05) in all of the cytokines and SAs in a parasitic burden-dependent fashion. Additionally, a strong and positive relation was detected among the parasitemia, cytokines and SAs. Conclusively, T. equi infection is associated with induction of severe inflammatory processes in horses and SA plays a pivotal role in pathophysiology of the disease as it is tightly correlated with the parasitemia rate.

Modulation of TNF-α, IL-1Ra and IFN-γ in equine whole blood culture by glucocorticoids

Glucocorticoids are important drugs in the treatment of many inflammatory, autoimmune and allergic diseases in humans and animals. We investigated the effects of hydrocortisone and dexamethasone on TNF-α, IL-1Ra and INF-γ release in stimulated whole blood cell culture from healthy horses. Whole blood cell cultures proved to be useful for the characterization of the anti-inflammatory properties of new drugs. Diluted equine whole blood was exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and PCPwL (a cocktail consisting of phythemagglutinin E, concanavalin A, pokeweed mitogen and lipopolysaccharide) in the presence or absence of hydrocortisone and dexamethasone (10^-12 - 10^-5 M). TNF-α and IL-1Ra (LPS) as well as IFN-γ (PCPwL) levels were measured in the supernatants using specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The LPS-induced TNF-α and IL-1Ra as well as the PCPwL-induced IFN-γ levels were more potently suppressed by dexamethasone than by hydrocortisone in a concentration-dependent manner. Dexamethasone inhibited TNF-α, IL-1Ra and IFN-γ with the half maximal inhibition concentration (IC₅₀) values of 0.09 μM, 0.453 μM and 0.001 μM, respectively, whereas hydrocortisone inhibited these cytokines with lower IC₅₀ values of 1.45 μM, 2.96 μM and 0.09 μM, respectively. Our results suggest that the equine whole blood test system is useful and reliable to evaluate drug effects and immunological alterations and offers several advantages including simple and cheap performance in physiological and pathological conditions.