Immunity Commons^™

Impact Of Ashwagandha Treatment On Cytokine Production And Macrophage Differentiation Into Thp-1 Cells, Betsi Diaz Chavarin, Aditi Kumar

Posters - 2026

Inflammation is a critical biological response that enables the immune system to react to infections, injuries, or stressful situations. However, chronic or excessive inflammation can lead to tissue damage and contribute to a wide range of diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders, metabolic syndromes, and immune dysregulation. 3,4 Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) is a key pro-inflammatory cytokine that plays a central role in initiating and amplifying the immune response. 1,2 It is primarily produced by activated monocytes and macrophages in response to stimuli such as pathogens or stress signals. In addition, IL-1β acts on the hypothalamus to induce fever, which creates an environment …

The Role Of Gsk-3Α Inhibition In Attenuating Lps-Induced Inflammation In Raw 264.7 Cells, Oluwaseyi Oyewole

Theses and Dissertations

Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3), an enzyme that modulates glucose metabolism, has been recognized as an essential target in major inflammatory diseases based on its great specificity in substrate recognition. GSK-3β has been connected to cancer, obesity, liver diseases, and neurological diseases. Nonetheless, the other GSK-3 isoform, GSK-3α, is much less studied. Previous studies from our laboratory showed that inhibiting GSK-3α potentially confers an anti-inflammatory response when tested on microglia. However, little has been documented regarding the exact mechanism by which GSK-3α exerts its effect. One of the potential mechanisms involving its anti-inflammatory effect could be partially attributed to activating the …

The Role Of Lifr Signaling In Innate Immunity, Laura Kahn Serrudo

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The localized signals that bone marrow (BM) hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and immune cells receive are critical in regulating their responses in the steady state and inflammation. Monocytes are an abundant and key population in the innate immune response that originates in the BM, and they circulate to monitor the periphery. Monocytes are composed of many subsets that have essential and specific functions, including swift egress from the BM, production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and differentiation into monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MoDCs), which are required for efficient pathogen eradication.

Here, we uncovered LIFR (leukemia inhibitory factor receptor) restrains low-grade chronic inflammation in …

Establishment Of Bacteroides In The Gut And Its Role In The Cystic Fibrosis Gut-Lung Axis, Rebecca A. Valls

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

In the quest to understand the complex interplay between the gut microbiota and cystic fibrosis (CF), a disease characterized by chronic upper respiratory complications and an exacerbated proinflammatory response, our lab engaged in a collaborative study with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) to characterize the gut microbiota of pediatric CF patients. Initial analyses established a connection between gut microbial composition and respiratory health, particularly highlighting a scarcity of Bacteroides species compared to healthy controls. In following investigations, we utilized random forest models to understand how stool microbiota may influence clinical outcomes of these pediatric CF patients, including: age, upper respiratory infections, …

The Role Of Oncomodulin In The Central Nervous System Inflammation, Evan Paltjon

Honors Theses

Acoustic overexposure in mice leads to an excess of calcium influx in outer hair cells (OHCs) and causes permanent hearing loss due to death of OHCs. Oncomodulin is a parvalbumin calcium buffering protein located in OHCs of the cochlea. Early pilot studies indicate that genetic deletion of OCM results in immune-related pathology throughout the cochlea. Why and how this occurs is unknown. Studies in wild type (WT) and OCM knockout (KO) mice demonstrate greater numbers of immune cells are associated with noise exposure in an OCM knockout than in WT. Expression of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) leads to the recruitment …

Large-Scale Phenotyping Of Patients With Long Covid Post-Hospitalization Reveals Mechanistic Subtypes Of Disease, Felicity Liew, Claudia Efstathiou, Sara Fontanella, Matthew Richardson, Ruth Saunders, Dawid Swieboda, Jasmin K Sidhu, Stephanie Ascough, Shona C Moore, Noura Mohamed, Jose Nunag, Clara King, Olivia C Leavy, Omer Elneima, Hamish J C Mcauley, Aarti Shikotra, Amisha Singapuri, Marco Sereno, Victoria C Harris, Linzy Houchen-Wolloff, Neil J Greening, Nazir I Lone, Matthew Thorpe, A A Roger Thompson, Sarah L Rowland-Jones, Annemarie B Docherty, James D Chalmers, Ling-Pei Ho, Alexander Horsley, Betty Raman, Krisnah Poinasamy, Michael Marks, Onn Min Kon, Luke S Howard, Daniel G Wootton, Jennifer K Quint, Thushan I De Silva, Antonia Ho, Christopher Chiu, Ewen M Harrison, William Greenhalf, J Kenneth Baillie, Malcolm G Semple, Lance Turtle, Rachael A Evans, Louise V Wain, Christopher Brightling, Ryan S Thwaites, Peter J M Openshaw, Phosp-Covid Collaborative Group, Isaric Investigators

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

One in ten severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections result in prolonged symptoms termed long coronavirus disease (COVID), yet disease phenotypes and mechanisms are poorly understood1. Here we profiled 368 plasma proteins in 657 participants ≥3 months following hospitalization. Of these, 426 had at least one long COVID symptom and 233 had fully recovered. Elevated markers of myeloid inflammation and complement activation were associated with long COVID. IL-1R2, MATN2 and COLEC12 were associated with cardiorespiratory symptoms, fatigue and anxiety/depression; MATN2, CSF3 and C1QA were elevated in gastrointestinal symptoms and C1QA was elevated in cognitive impairment. Additional markers …

Multiphasic Molecular Mechanisms Regulate Expression Of Interleukin 1Β, As Well As Other Immediate-Early Genes, In Monocytes And Macrophages, David Macar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interleukin 1β (IL-1β), an important cytokine in both health and disease, functions as a major proinflammatory mediator of pathological challenges, including involvement in the cytokine storm associated with Macrophage Activation Syndrome, Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis and the severe secondary effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Therapeutic approaches to limiting the effects of IL-1β protein have focused either on specific protein neutralization before release from activated macrophages (by general metabolic inhibitors and inflammasome inhibition) or after release by ligand and receptor obstruction (e.g., Canakinumab, Anakinra and Rilonacept). Although these approaches are efficacious, they inhibit steps after gene expression. Since a single gene expresses …

Elucidating The Mechanisms Underlying How Vmp1 Regulates Inflammatory Responses, Stephanie Zack

Dissertations

autophagy, inflammation, mitochondria, NLRP3 inflammasome, SERCA, VMP1

Elucidating The Mechanisms Of Immune Regulation By Bacillus Subtilis, Jesus Zamora-Pineda

Dissertations

bacillus subtilis, exopolysaccharides, inflammation, probiotics, tlr4

Time Course Investigation Of The Dermal Leukocyte Response To Lipoteichoic Acid In Chickens, Ian Gilbert

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Lipoteichoic acid (LTA) is component of the cell wall of Gram-positive bacteria that stimulates inflammation during bacterial infection. However, few studies have investigated the in vivo immune response to LTA, and none of the in vivo studies done have been performed in birds. For this project, the pulp (a skin-derivative) of growing feathers (GFs) of chickens were used as a test site to investigate the in vivo effects of intradermally injected LTA. In Study 1, the pulp of 12 GFs of 11-week-old Light-brown Leghorn (LBL) males were injected with 10 μL of differing concentrations of LTA (0.1, 1.0, 10, 100 …

Time Course Investigation Of The Dermal Leukocyte Response To Lipoteichoic Acid In Chickens, Ian M. Gilbert, Jossie M. Santamaria, Gisela F. Erf

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Lipoteichoic acid (LTA) is a cell-wall polymer in Gram-positive bacteria that stimulates inflammation. Few studies have investigated in vivo immune response to LTA, and none of the in vivo studies have been performed in birds. For this project, the pulp (a skin derivative) of growing feathers (GF) of chickens was used to investigate the in vivo effects of intradermally injected LTA. In Study 1, GF of chickens were injected with 10 μL of differing concentrations of LTA (0.1, 1.0, 10, 100 or 250 μg LTA/mL; 3 chickens/dose). Growing feathers were plucked before injection (0 h) and at 6, 24, 48, …

Sodium Pyruvate Ameliorates Influenza A Virus Infection In Vitro And In Vivo, Jessica M. Reel

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Pyruvate is produced in duplicate at the end of glycolysis in addition to ATP and NADH. Pyruvate is the metabolite of choice in most cells, whether obtained exogenously or endogenously. Recently we found that the addition of pyruvate’s conjugate base, sodium pyruvate, to cell culture media dampened the immune response to influenza A virus (IAV) infection in cultured innate immune cells. Thus, I decided to investigate the mechanism and potential for treatment of IAV. In vitro using bone marrow derived macrophages that were infected with IAV we found that adding sodium pyruvate to the media decreased immune signaling pathways through …

Neutrophil-To-Lymphocyte Ratio: A Biomarker To Monitor The Immune Status Of Astronauts, Amber M. Paul, Siddhita D. Mhatre, Egle Cekanaviciute, Ann-Sofie Schreurs, Candice G.T. Tahimic, Ruth K. Globus, Sulekha Anand, Brian E. Crucian, Sharmila Bhattacharya

Publications

A comprehensive understanding of spaceflight factors involved in immune dysfunction and the evaluation of biomarkers to assess in-flight astronaut health are essential goals for NASA. An elevated neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a potential biomarker candidate, as leukocyte differentials are altered during spaceflight. In the reduced gravity environment of space, rodents and astronauts displayed elevated NLR and granulocyte-to-lymphocyte ratios (GLR), respectively. To simulate microgravity using two well-established ground-based models, we cultured human whole blood-leukocytes in high-aspect rotating wall vessels (HARV-RWV) and used hindlimb unloaded (HU) mice. Both HARV-RWV simulation of leukocytes and HU-exposed mice showed elevated NLR profiles comparable to spaceflight …

Basigin As An Immune Mediator In The Cns, Alicia Gonzalez

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Chronic inflammation is a hallmark of many neurodegenerative disorders. Although the central nervous system (CNS) can stave peripheral pathogens from crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB) through a network of continuous endothelia, astrocytes, and pericytes, prolonged exposure to a pathogen can comprise this barrier. Basigin, a cell adhesion molecule, is found on the surface of endothelial cells and has been demonstrated to interact with toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). TLR4 recognizes lipopolysaccharide (LPS), found on the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. The activation of TLR4 produces pro-inflammatory cytokines, like IL-6. The present study aims to address the expression pattern of Basigin gene …

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 …

Regulations Of Pathogenic Cd4+ T Helper Lymphocytes In Inflammatory Diseases, Handong Zheng

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

In this comprehensive project, three interrelated studies with distinct foci were employed to understand the regulations of specific CD4⁺ T helper cell population in inflammatory diseases.

Pathogenic TH17 cells play an essential role in the initiation and development of both human multiple sclerosis (MS) and animal experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Nevertheless, the underlying mechanism by which the pathogenicity of TH17 cells is controlled in the autoimmune neuro-inflammation remains unclear. In aim 1, we revealed that lumican (Lum), an extracellular matrix (ECM) protein, negatively regulates encephalitic TH17 cell responses. Our findings highlighted a TH17 cell-intrinsic effect of Lum in suppressing …

5-Lipoxygenase (5-Lox)-5-Lipoxygenase Activating Protein (Flap)-Nanodisc Complex: A Model For The 5-Lox-Flap Interaction, Erin Elizabeth Schexnaydre

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Leukotrienes (LT) are lipid mediators of the inflammatory response that play important roles in diseases such as asthma and atherosclerosis. Leukotriene A4 (LTA₄) is synthesized from arachidonic acid (AA) by 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) with the help of 5-lipoxygenase activating protein (FLAP), a trimeric nuclear transmembrane protein. Exactly how 5-LOX and FLAP interact is not well understood, however FLAP is essential for the production of leukotrienes in vivo. I used nanodiscs (NDs), engineered membrane systems, as a tool to study the 5-LOX-FLAP interaction. FLAP was incorporated into NDs with a phospholipid composition to mimic of the nuclear membrane. Structural features …

The Microvascular And Systemic Effects Of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticle Exposure: A Physiological Perspective, Alaeddin Bashir Abukabda

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (nano-TiO₂) are one of the most widely used engineered nanomaterials (ENM). Their ubiquitous inclusion warrants a more thorough understanding of their toxicity, particularly in sensitive populations such as pregnant women and the developing fetus.

The aim of the first study was to determine the most sensitive segments of the vasculature to pulmonary ENM exposure. Macrovascular function was investigated in the thoracic aorta, common femoral artery and 3^rd order mesenteric arterioles using wire myography. Microvascular function was assessed in 4^th and 5^th order mesenteric arterioles via pressure myography. Nano-TiO₂ exposure induced impairments …

The Effect Of Fluvastatin On Mast Cell Function: Genotype Dependence, Elizabeth M. Kolawole

Theses and Dissertations

Fluvastatin, the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor known for its role in the treatment of hypercholesterolemia and cardiovascular disease, has more recently been shown to play a role in the immune response. Given the critical role that mast cells play in allergy and inflammatory diseases such as asthma, which effects one third of America’s population, we assessed the effect of fluvastatin on mast cell and basophils function. We demonstrate that fluvastatin downregulated IgE-mediated cytokine production. Additionally, in vivo studies showed that fluvastatin suppressed IgE-mediated anaphylaxis. Interestingly, the effects of fluvastatin showed dependence on genetic background, as C57BL/6 mast cells were sensitive, while …

The Effect Of Lactic Acid On Mast Cell Function, Andrew J. Spence

Theses and Dissertations

This study shows for the first time the effect that L-(+)-lactic acid has on mast cell activation. Lactic acid is a byproduct of anaerobic glycolysis and is associated with inflammatory environments such as wounds, tumors and, asthma. In this study, pre-treatment with lactic acid altered cytokine production by bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMC). Specifically, lactic acid enhanced cytokine secretion following IgE cross-linking, but decreased IL-33 mediated cytokine production. These effects were altered by genetic background, since C57BL/6 mast cells demonstrated the aforementioned result, but lactic acid had no effect on IgE-mediated cytokine production in 129/SvJ mast cells. The affected cytokines …

Inflammatory Breast Cancer: The Immune Perspective, Evan N. Cohen

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is the most insidious form of locally advanced disease. Although rare and less than 2% of all breast cancer, IBC is responsible for up to 10% of all breast cancer deaths. Despite the name, very little is known about the role of inflammation or immune mediators in IBC. Therefore, we analyzed blood samples from IBC patients and non-IBC patients, as well as healthy donor controls to establish an IBC-specific profile of peripheral blood leukocyte phenotype and function of T cells and dendritic cells and serum inflammatory cytokines.

Emerging evidence suggests that host factors in the microenviromement …

Molecular Mechanisms Underlying The Transcriptional Regulation Of T Helper 17 And Regulatory T Cells, Gustavo Javier Martinez

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

CD4⁺ T helper (Th) lymphocytes are vital for integrating immune responses by orchestrating the function of other immune cell types. Naïve Th cells can differentiate into different effector subsets that are characterized by their cytokine profile and immune regulatory functions. These subsets include Th1, Th2, Th17, natural and inducible regulatory T cells (nTreg and iTreg respectively), among others. We focused our investigation on two Th lineages, Th17 and regulatory T cells, with opposing functions in the immune system. These subsets have been suggested to be reciprocally regulated since they both require TGF-b for their development. We investigated the role …