Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Molecular Biology Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Molecular Biology

Prevention Of Chronic Inflammation By Targeting Macrophage Integrin Adb2, Cady Forgey Dec 2020

Prevention Of Chronic Inflammation By Targeting Macrophage Integrin Adb2, Cady Forgey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Macrophage integrin aDb2 promotes macrophage retention and accumulation within inflamed tissue, a key event in development of chronic inflammation. Recently, the P5 peptide was identified as a specific inhibitor for integrin aDb2 interaction with 2-(ω-carboxyethyl) pyrole (CEP), a ligand at inflammatory sites. This thesis aims to identify integrin aD I-domain amino acids involved in binding P5 peptide and likewise to CEP. We propose that non-conserved, basic amino acids of the integrin aDb2 I-domain are responsible for binding to P5 peptide and likewise to CEP. Eight amino acids were analyzed by …


Protection Against Atherosclerosis By A Non-Native Pentameric Crp That Shares Its Ligand Recognition Functions With An Evolutionarily Distant Crp, Asmita Pathak May 2020

Protection Against Atherosclerosis By A Non-Native Pentameric Crp That Shares Its Ligand Recognition Functions With An Evolutionarily Distant Crp, Asmita Pathak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute phase protein of the innate immune system that has been evolutionarily conserved. Human CRP is known to exist in two different pentameric conformations; native CRP and non-native CRP that possess differential ligand recognition functions. The structure of CRP evolved from arthropods to humans, in terms of subunit composition, disulfide bonds, and glycosylation pattern. Along with change in structure, the gene expression pattern of CRP also evolved from a constitutive protein in lower invertebrates to an acute phase protein in humans. The objective of this study was to determine the function of a non-native pentameric …


Transcription Regulation Of Human Il1b Gene In Monocytes And Lymphoid Cd4 T Cells, Sree H. Pulugulla Dec 2019

Transcription Regulation Of Human Il1b Gene In Monocytes And Lymphoid Cd4 T Cells, Sree H. Pulugulla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cytokines are key regulators of the inflammatory response and play an important role in facilitating intercellular communication between various immune cell types. Interleukin‑1β (IL‑1β) is a potent pro-inflammatory cytokine that is required for robust initiation of innate immune response and subsequent development of adaptive immunity. IL-1β is first synthesized as an inactive cytoplasmic, non‑glycosylated, precursor molecule (proIL‑1β) by monocytes and macrophages in response to invading pathogenic microbes. The activation of caspase‑1 by inflammasomes cleaves proIL-1β into mature biologically active IL-1β that is released from cells via a non-classical, endoplasmic reticulum‑independent secretory pathway directly from the cytoplasm via Gasdermin D membrane …


Role Of Microrna-21 In Atherogenesis., Rihab Hamed-Berair May 2016

Role Of Microrna-21 In Atherogenesis., Rihab Hamed-Berair

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) is an evolutionarily conserved microRNA, abundant in most cardiovascular tissues. It has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several cardiovascular diseases including restenosis, myocardial infarction, and heart failure. However, little is known about the contribution of miR-21 in atherosclerosis. My data show that expression of miR-21 is increased by >1.5-fold in murine atherosclerotic lesions and by 1.5-2.0-fold in the macrophages of Western diet (WD)-fed LDLR-KO mice (for 12-20 weeks). In vitro, LDL, oxidized LDL, acetylated LDL and LPS induced miR-21 by 2-4-fold and down-regulated its target protein, PDCD4, in bone marrow-derived macrophages. Basally, macrophages isolated from miR-21-KO …