Protection against the allergic airway inflammation depends on the modulation of spleen dendritic cell function and induction of regulatory T cells in mice

Quality markers of animal medicinal materials: Correlative analysis of musk reveals distinct metabolic changes induced by multiple factors

BACKGROUND

Common farming environmental elements, such as longitude, latitude, and altitude, and physiological conditions, such as age and body weight, are thought to influence medicinal animal homeostasis and material quality by altering endocrine functions for primary and secondary metabolite formation. However, the currently available methods for evaluating complex components of traditional Chinese animal medicines have insufficient sensitivity and specificity.

PURPOSE

Characterizing the primary/secondary metabolomes of medicinal animals is essential for understanding their material basis, controlling product quality, and reflecting on distribution interactions. Therefore, this study aimed to screen ecological- and physiological-related metabolites in captive Moschus berezovskii throughout the collection period based on the quality marker (Q-marker) concept.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

Fifty-one musk deer samples from 12 different distribution farms ranging in age from 2 to 11 years were enrolled. Differentially expressed musk metabolites were assessed via chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry technologies. A metabolome that mapped connections among these factors was established using chemometric and topological calculations.

RESULTS

Statistical analysis revealed that muscone, cis-9-hexadecenal, antioxidant 2264, prasterone-3-sulfate, androstan-17-one, and 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid showed significantly altered expression. Partial least squares (PLS) regression analysis of qualified data for these 6 secondary metabolites (active components) demonstrated that age is the most important factor underlying the varying levels of muscone, androstan-17-one and 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid. Furthermore, weight was the most important factor for cis-9-hexadecenal, longitude was important for antioxidant 2264, latitude was important for prasterone-3-sulfate, and altitude was important for antioxidant 2264, androstan-17-one and 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic. Metabolite analysis within the MetaboAnalyst (MetPA) suite showed that 18 candidate biomarker metabolites were screened, including allantoin, glycine, serine, creatine, alanine, taurine, lactate, 2-oxoglutarate (2-OG), fumarate, proline, xanthine, cytosine, carnitine, arginine, threonine, aspartate, and urea. Metabolic network analysis showed 4 important pathways that were involved: arginine and proline metabolism, the urea cycle, aspartate metabolism, and glycine, serine and threonine metabolism.

CONCLUSION

Using this combined metabolomic and chemometric approach, this study was successful in screening Q-markers for musk quality control and provided new insights into correlations among "ecological & physiological factors→Q-markers→metabolites", which potentially provides crucial information for musk breeding and material quality control.

A role for impaired regulatory T cell function in adverse responses to aluminum adjuvant-containing vaccines in genetically susceptible individuals

Regulatory T cells play a critical role in the immune response to vaccination, but there is only a limited understanding of the response of regulatory T cells to aluminum adjuvants and the vaccines that contain them. Available studies in animal models show that although induced T regulatory cells may be induced concomitantly with effector T cells following aluminum-adjuvanted vaccination, they are unable to protect against sensitization, suggesting that under the Th2 immune-stimulating effects of aluminum adjuvants, Treg cells may be functionally compromised. Allergic diseases are characterized by immune dysregulation, with increases in IL-4 and IL-6, both of which exert negative effects on Treg function. For individuals with a genetic predisposition, the beneficial influence of adjuvants on immune responsiveness may be accompanied by immune dysregulation, leading to allergic diseases. This review examines aspects of the regulatory T cell response to aluminum-adjuvanted immunization and possible genetic susceptibility factors related to that response.

Airway delivery of soluble factors from plastic-adherent bone marrow cells prevents murine asthma

Asthma affects an estimated 300 million people worldwide and accounts for 1 of 250 deaths and 15 million disability-adjusted life years lost annually. Plastic-adherent bone marrow-derived cell (BMC) administration holds therapeutic promise in regenerative medicine. However, given the low cell engraftment in target organs, including the lung, cell replacement cannot solely account for the reported therapeutic benefits. This suggests that BMCs may act by secreting soluble factors. BMCs also possess antiinflammatory and immunomodulatory properties and may therefore be beneficial for asthma. Our objective was to investigate the therapeutic potential of BMC-secreted factors in murine asthma. In a model of acute and chronic asthma, intranasal instillation of BMC conditioned medium (CdM) prevented airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and inflammation. In the chronic asthma model, CdM prevented airway smooth muscle thickening and peribronchial inflammation while restoring blunted salbutamol-induced bronchodilation. CdM reduced lung levels of the T(H)2 inflammatory cytokines IL-4 and IL-13 and increased levels of IL-10. CdM up-regulated an IL-10-induced and IL-10-secreting subset of T regulatory lymphocytes and promoted IL-10 expression by lung macrophages. Adiponectin (APN), an antiinflammatory adipokine found in CdM, prevented AHR, airway smooth muscle thickening, and peribronchial inflammation, whereas the effect of CdM in which APN was neutralized or from APN knock-out mice was attenuated compared with wild-type CdM. Our study provides evidence that BMC-derived soluble factors prevent murine asthma and suggests APN as one of the protective factors. Further identification of BMC-derived factors may hold promise for novel approaches in the treatment of asthma.