Sex hormones alter the response of Toll-like receptor 3 to its specific ligand in fallopian tube epithelial cells / 대한생식의학회지

OBJECTIVE: The fallopian tubes play a critical role in the early events of fertilization. The rapid innate immune defense is an important part of the fallopian tubes. Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3), as a part of the innate immune system, plays an important role in detecting viral infections. In this basic and experimental study, the effect of sex hormones on the function of TLR3 in the OE-E6/E7 cell line was investigated. METHODS: The functionality of TLR3 in this cell line was evaluated by cytokine measurements (interleukin [IL]-6 and IL-1b) and the effects of sex hormones on TLR3 were tested by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Additionally, TLR3 small interfering RNA (siRNA) and a TLR3 function-blocking antibody were used to confirm our findings. RESULTS: The production of IL-6 significantly increased in the presence of polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly(I:C)) as the TLR3 ligand. Using a TLR3-siRNA-ransfected OE-E6/E7 cell line and function-blocking antibody confirmed that cytokine production was due to TLR3. In addition, 17-β estradiol and progesterone suppressed the production of IL-6 in the presence and absence of poly(I:C). CONCLUSION: These results imply that sex hormones exerted a suppressive effect on the function of TLR3 in the fallopian tube cell line when different concentrations of sex hormones were present. The current results also suggest that estrogen receptor beta and nuclear progesterone receptor B are likely to mediate the hormonal regulation of TLR3, as these two receptors are the main estrogen and progesterone receptors in OE-E6/E7 cell line.

Evaluating electroporation and lipofectamine approaches for transient and stable transgene expressions in human fibroblasts and embryonic stem cells

Objective: Genetic modification of human embryonic stem cells [hESCs] is critical for their extensive use as a fundamental tool for cell therapy and basic research. Despite the fact that various methods such as lipofection and electroporation have been applied to transfer the gene of interest [GOI] into the target cell line, however, there are few reports that compare all parameters, which influence transfection efficiency. In this study, we examine all parameters that affect the efficiency of electroporation and lipofection for transient and long-term gene expression in three different cell lines to introduce the best method and determinant factor

Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, both electroporation and lipofection approaches were employed for genetic modification. pCAG-EGFP was applied for transient expression of green fluorescent protein in two genetically different hESC lines, Royan H5 [XX] and Royan H6 [XY], as well as human foreskin fibroblasts [hFF]. For long-term EGFP expression VASA and OLIG2 promoters [germ cell and motoneuron specific genes, respectively], were isolated and subsequently cloned into a pBluMAR5 plasmid backbone to drive EGFP expression. Flow cytometry analysis was performed two days after transfection to determine transient expression efficiency. Differentiation of drug resistant hESC colonies toward primordial germ cells [PGCs] was conducted to confirm stable integration of the transgene

Results: Transient and stable expression suggested a variable potential for different cell lines against transfection. Analysis of parameters that influenced gene transformation efficiency revealed that the vector concentrations from 20-60 Mug and the density of the subjected cells [5×105 and 1×106 cells] were not as effective as the genetic background and voltage rate. The present data indicated that in contrast to the circular form, the linearized vector generated more distinctive drug resistant colonies

Conclusion: Electroporation was an efficient tool for genetic engineering of hESCs compared to the chemical method. The genetic background of the subjected cell line for transfection seemed to be a fundamental factor in each gene delivery method. For each cell line, optimum voltage rate should be calculated as it has been shown to play a crucial role in cell death and rate of gene delivery