macrophage apotosis

Atherosclerotic plaques are fatty growths in artery walls that cause heart attacks and strokes. Plaque formation is driven by macrophages that are recruited to the artery wall. These cells consume and remove blood-derived lipids, such as modified low-density lipoprotein. Ineffective lipid removal, due to macrophage death and other factors, leads to the accumulation of lipid-loaded macrophages and formation of a necrotic lipid core. Experimental observations suggest that macrophage functionality varies with the extent of lipid loading...

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is caused by a protozoan parasite, Leishmania donovani (L. donovani). It affects around 1-2 million people around the world annually. There is an urgent need to investigate new medicament of it due to difficult method of drug administration, long period of treatment, high cost of the drug, adverse side-effects, low efficacy and development of parasite resistance to the available drugs. Medicinal plants have also been used for the treatment of different diseases in traditional system of medicines due to their holistic effects...

Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1(TREM-1) is a member of the superimmunoglobulin receptor family. We have previously shown that TREM-1 prolongs survival of macrophages treated with lipoolysaccharide through Egr2-Bcl2 signaling. Recent studies suggest a role for TREM-1 in viral immunity. Human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV) targets the monocyte/macrophage lineage at varying stages of infection. Emerging data suggest that macrophages are key reservoirs for latent HIV even in individuals on antiretroviral therapy...

A tumor promoting role of macrophages has been described for a transgenic murine breast cancer model. In this model tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) represent a major component of the leukocytic infiltrate and are associated with tumor progression. Shigella flexneri is a bacterial pathogen known to specificly induce apotosis in macrophages. To evaluate whether Shigella-induced removal of macrophages may be sufficient for achieving tumor regression we have developed an attenuated strain of S. flexneri (M90TDeltaaroA) and infected tumor bearing mice...

Granulocytes and mononuclear phagocytes develop from the same myeloid progenitor cells in the bone marrow via distinct differentiation pathways. Yet, it is known that mature macrophages are more resistant than granulocytes to spontaneous apoptosis in cultures without hematopoietic growth factors. This fact suggests that the development of resistance to apoptosis during myeloid differentiation is differentially regulated by a lineage-dependent mechanism. Using primary cultures of human bone marrow cells, we now report that induction of monocytic differentiation into mature macrophages with M-CSF was correlated with a steady and gradual increase in the levels of X-chromosome-linked inhibitor of apotosis (XIAP) and Bcl-2, while induction of granulocytic differentiation with G-CSF had no significant effects on the expression of these proteins...

BACKGROUND: For the normal resolution of an acute inflammatory response, neutrophil (PMN) apoptosis is essential to maintain immune homeostasis and to limit inappropriate host tissue damage. A delay in PMN apoptosis has been implicated in the pathogenesis of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). Dopamine, a biogenic amine with known cardiovascular and neurotransmitter properties, is used in patients with SIRS to maintain hemodynamic stability. We sought to determine whether dopamine may also have immunoregulatory properties capable of influencing PMN apoptosis, function, and activation state in patients with SIRS...