ABSTRACT
Interleukin (IL)-38 is a poorly characterized cytokine of the IL-1 family with anti-inflammatory activity. The role of IL-38 in liver injury remains unknown. We have investigated the potential effect of hydrodynamic-based gene delivery to express human IL-38 in mice with concanavalin A (Con A)-induced liver injury. Transfer of plasmid DNA encoding IL-38 significantly reduced hepatic toxicity and serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase compared with administration of a control plasmid. Moreover, IL-38 expression dramatically reduced serum levels of several pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-α, interferon-γ, IL-6, IL-17, and IL-22, but not levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. These results suggest that in vivo expression of human IL-38 in mice has hepatoprotective effects against Con A-induced liver injury by inhibition of inflammatory cytokine production.
Subject(s)
Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury/immunology , Interleukins/metabolism , Administration, Intravenous , Alanine Transaminase/blood , Animals , Aspartate Aminotransferases/blood , Cell Survival , Concanavalin A/immunology , Cytokines/blood , Gene Transfer Techniques , Humans , Inflammation Mediators/blood , Interleukins/genetics , Male , Mice , Mice, Inbred BALB C , Transgenes/geneticsABSTRACT
We compared the miRNA expression profiles of spermatozoa from adult men living in an environment contaminated with electronic waste with those living in a normal environment, using a miRNA microarray. There were 73 significantly upregulated and 109 downregulated miRNAs in spermatozoa from men in the polluted environment compared with controls. Ten miRNAs were expressed significantly differently between the control and polluted samples and this result were further confirmed through quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction amplification. A bioinformatics pipeline was developed to distinguish relationship with spermatogenesis. Our data indicated specific miRNAs expression of spermatozoa in men living in environmentally polluted sites and suggested that miRNAs have a role in regulating spermatogenesis. We also propose a subclassification scheme for miRNAs for assisting future experimental and computational functional analyses.
