Ten animals were infected with 5 × 106 red blood cells parasitized by P. berghei-NK65 (PbNK-65) or only injected with saline (negative control group). After 14 days of infection, control and infected mice were

anaesthetized, killed and their thymi were collected and used in the experiments described below. Thymi were minced, washed PI3K inhibitor and resuspended in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) containing 5% fetal calf serum for subsequent cellularity evaluation, which was followed by triple immunofluorescence staining. Appropriate dilutions of the following fluorochrome-labelled monoclonal antibodies were used: fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)/anti-CD4 (clone GK1.5), Alexa Fluor 647/anti-CD8 (clone 53-6.7), PeCy-7/anti-CD3 (clone 145-2C11), phycoerythrin (PE)/anti-CD49d (clone 9C10), PE/anti-CD49e (clone 5H10-27), PE/anti-CD49f (clone GOH3), PE/anti-CXCR4 (clone B11/CXCR4) and PE/anti-CCR9 (clone 242503). Selleck FDA-approved Drug Library These reagents were purchased from Pharmingen/Becton-Dickinson (South San Francisco, CA) and R&D Systems (Minneapolis, MN). Fluorochrome-labelled isotype-matched negative controls for the specific monoclonal antibodies were obtained from Pharmingen. Cells were stained for 20 min and then washed with PBS, fixed and analysed by flow cytometry in a FACsCANTO® device (Becton-Dickinson) equipped with

Diva software. Analyses were performed after recording 10 000 events for each sample using FCS Express V3 software (BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA). Splenic cells from infected and control animals were also processed and analysed very by flow cytometry. In this case, CD4+ and CD8+ cell populations were analysed by gating on CD3+ cells. Thymi were embedded in Tissue-Tek (LEICA Instruments,

Nussloch, Germany) and subsequently frozen at −70°. Five-micrometre thick cryostat sections were settled on silanized glass slides, acetone-fixed and blocked with PBS/1% bovine serum albumin (BSA). Samples were submitted to anti-fibronectin or anti-laminin primary antibody incubation (Sigma-Aldrich, St Louis, MO) for 1 hr at room temperature, washed three times with PBS and labelled with FITC-coupled secondary antibody incubation (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA) for an additional 30 min. Samples were analysed by fluorescence microscopy (Olympus) and the images obtained were subsequently quantified for the presence of ECM proteins using the Image J software.19 The expression of chemokine genes was evaluated by real-time quantitative transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Thymus RNA was extracted from tissues using the Illustra RNAspin Mini (GE Healthcare, Amersham, UK). After RNA quantification and analysis of RNA integrity on a 1·5% agarose gel, reverse transcription was performed with approximately 2 μg of RNA using the High Capacity cDNA Reverse Transcription kit (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

This point notwithstanding, IFN-β is released following STING activation by cytosolic DNA sensors such as cGAS, and IFN-β is a potent activator of innate (e.g. APCs) and adaptive (T/B cells) immune cells. However, activated immune cells may drive dominant immunogenic or tolerogenic responses, contingent on other factors in affected microenvironments that shape downstream responses to (i) insults driving immune responses and (ii) other ISGs responsive to IFN-β [21]. To illustrate this paradigm with a specific example, oligonucleotides containing unmethylated CpG dimers (CpGs) ligate TLR9 and are

widely regarded as immune stimulator adjuvants. However, when CpGs were administered systemically (by intravenous injection) to mice, antigen-specific Th1 or Th2 effector responses elicited in vivo were suppressed in spleens or lungs in a CpG dose-dependent RAD001 order manner [22-26]. Consistent with the widely known immune adjuvant properties of TLR ligands, low CpG doses (25 μg) enhanced splenic Th1 responses. In striking contrast, higher

CpG doses (100 μg) suppressed splenic Th1 responses due to IFN-αβ-mediated IDO induction in a subset of DCs expressing the Pifithrin-�� nmr B-cell marker CD19, which activated Treg cells [22-24]. Thus, IFN-αβ signaling is the pivotal driver of both stimulatory (Th1) and Treg responses to TLR9 ligands, and IDO is the critical ISG driving dose-dependent immune regulatory outcomes 2-hydroxyphytanoyl-CoA lyase following TLR9 ligation in vivo. As TLR9-sensing induces IFN-αβ release at high and low doses, it is unclear why IDO induction was dose-dependent, although one potential explanation is that there are lower local IFN-αβ signaling thresholds for inducing immunogenic responses than IFN-αβ signaling thresholds for inducing CD19+ DCs to express IDO. IDO is not the only ISG that regulates

immunity and IFN-αβ signaling may synergize with regulatory cytokines (e.g. TGF-β, IL-10) to drive dominant regulatory outcomes in some inflammatory settings. For example, systemic exposure to apoptotic cells, which drives tolerogenic responses, was shown to stimulate the release of regulatory (TGF-β, IL-10) and proinflammatory (IL-6, TNF-α, IL-12) cytokines in spleens of mice [27]. However, administering IDO inhibitor at the same time enhanced proinflammatory but reduced regulatory cytokine production and drove effector T-cell responses [27], indicating that the balance of proinflammatory and regulatory cytokines, and not the release of specific cytokines per se, is the critical factor influencing immune outcomes. The key lesson from these studies is that cytosolic DNA sensing to activate STING and drive IFN-β release may have tolerogenic or immunogenic consequences in physiologic settings of inflammation that are relevant to clinical disease, including autoimmune syndromes, cancer, and chronic infections.

In addition, there may be subsets of CD4 memory cells that are not biased toward any lineage,

and so display the highest degree of lineage potential following reactivation with antigen. In the case of such non-committed cells, the prediction would be that lineage-associated transcription factor and/or effector genes (i.e Tbx21/Tbet, Gata3, Rorg, Bcl6, IFNg, IL4, etc.) have not yet acquired epigenetic www.selleckchem.com/products/byl719.html modifications consistent with expression of these genes that would skew their response toward any particular lineage. In depth gene expression and epigenetic analysis of memory subsets will be useful in determining whether ‘Th uncommitted’ memory CD4 T cells contribute significantly to the pool of memory T cells. Further, analysis of on-off-on gene regulation for genes such as CD62L, CCR7 and Bcl2 in memory cells will be useful for understanding factors that govern homing and survival during homeostasis GW-572016 price in the absence of their antigen, and possibly be predictive of the fate of memory cells following re-encounter with antigen. It is essential to understand how antigen-specific CD4 memory T cells behave in response to repeated exposure to pathogen, or throughout the course of vaccination, where priming and repeated boosting to antigen, results in reactivation of memory cells. Determining whether memory CD4 T cells ‘remember’ and

efficiently recall lineage-specific gene expression programmes that were acquired during their progenitors at the effector stage will provide an important framework for predicting the capacity of memory CD4 T-cell subsets to provide cellular immune responses and provide help for humoral immune responses

upon boosting or challenge with pathogen. A shared feature of CD4 and CD8 T-cell memory differentiation is Buspirone HCl that the strength and duration of TCR signalling determines the function and phenotype of the cells. At the extreme end of the TCR strength/duration of the signal spectrum are cells differentiated during chronic viral infections. Therefore, additional insights into the mechanism for differentiation of functional memory T cells may be gained from interrogating the mechanism for development of non-functional memory cells during conditions of antigen persistence. Failure to control viral infection results in a diminished ability of antigen-specific CD8 T cells to rapidly up-regulate cytokine expression and to kill antigen-presenting cells, often regarded as T-cell exhaustion.[52, 53] It is now well accepted that these functionally impaired exhausted T cells can be rejuvenated through manipulation of their inhibitory receptor signalling, and therapeutic strategies that target these inhibitory mechanisms play an important role in clearance of chronic viral infections such as HIV or hepatitis C virus, as well as control of several types of cancer.

The increased acceptance of the elderly with comorbidities, nursing home Roscovitine patients with their inherent poor outcomes emphasizes the importance of supporting end-of-life

decisions with palliative care. There should be an associated focus on adequate symptom control, which has been poorly attended to in ESKD as evidenced from some studies. The strong emotional influence, including grief and loss, apparent in the literature for patients, family and health professionals, suggests that there is a real need for education and support in relation to palliative care planning for each of these groups. To do this effectively further rigorous studies are needed to provide a stronger evidence base upon which to advise patients and their families when faced with impending Selleckchem Small molecule library dialysis. Some

countries such as the UK, USA, Italy and Canada are well advanced in providing treatment guidelines and resources once dialysis withdrawal is planned but a greater focus on the pre-dialysis phase is required. Multidisciplinary nephrology teams must ensure that patients and their families are accurately informed so they can choose between dialysis and conservative treatment supported by palliative care. The inclusion of palliative care guidelines for Australian nephrology through the CARI guidelines should be considered. The National Health and Medical Research Council is the funder of this study through Grant B0016419. “
“Physical inactivity is a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, the relationship between physical activity and www.selleck.co.jp/products/Decitabine.html risk of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is not clear. We analyzed

data on a prospective cohort of 59,552 Chinese adults aged 45-74 years enrolled in the Singapore Chinese Health Study. Information on physical activity was collected with a structured questionnaire. Physically active individuals were defined as those who engaged in any moderate activities for 2 hours or more per week, and any strenuous activities 30 minutes or more per week. Incident ESKD was identified via record linkage with the Singapore Registry of Birth and Death and Singapore Renal Registry. Cox proportional hazards regression method was used for analysis for risk of incident ESKD alone or ESKD plus death associated with physical activity. Multivariable models were used to account for the potential confounding effect of sociodemographic, life style factors, and known co-morbidites on the physical activity-ESKD risk association. During a median follow-up of 15.3 years, a total of 642 incident ESKD occurred, and 9808 study participants died. A 24% lower adjusted risk of ESKD [hazard ratio (HR): 0.76; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.62-0.93] was associated with moderate or strenuous physical activities compared to no regular physical activity. This association appeared to be dose dependent with the lowest risk for subjects at highest intensity of physical activity (p trend <0.003).

3B) or CD8+ T cells (data not shown) when DN T cells were added to the MLR. Next, we asked whether High Content Screening the suppressive activity of human DN T cells toward responder T cells is reversible. To address this question, APC-primed DN T cells were coincubated with CD4+ T cells and DC in a classical MLR. After 3 days, CD4+ T cells revealed no proliferation (Fig. 3B). In a next step, CD4+ T cells were

harvested, separated by cell sorting, and restimulated with DC without any DN T cells for additional 4 days. Of interest, responder T cells revealed a strong proliferative capacity upon secondary stimulation, indicating that CD4+ T cells were not killed by DN T cells, but kept in cell-cycle arrest. Taken together, these data demonstrate that in contrast to their murine counterparts, human DN T cells do not eliminate effector T cells but suppress them in an active manner, which is reversible upon restimulation in absence of DN T cells. To investigate whether DN T cells mediate suppression by rendering APCs tolerogenic, we used glutaraldehyde-fixed DC as stimulator cells. As expected, fixation

of DC resulted in a decreased ability to activate CD4+ T cells (Fig. 4A). However, DN T-cell-mediated suppression was not abolished, indicating that DN T cells do not mediate their suppressive effect via modulation of APCs. To confirm this finding, CD4+ T cells were stimulated with plate-bound anti-CD3 mAb or anti-CD3/CD28 beads in the presence Alectinib solubility dmso or absence of DN T cells. Stimulation of CD4+ T cells with plate-bound Selleck LGK974 anti-CD3 mAb induced a vigorous proliferative response (mean 65.0±2.7%), that was strongly inhibited by addition of APC-primed DN T cells (24.5±4.4%, p<0.01; Fig. 4B). Moreover, increased proliferation of CD4+ T cells induced by anti-CD3/CD28 beads (92.0±2.1%) could also be suppressed by addition of DN T cells (28.5±6.9%, p<0.001). We next asked whether DN T cells mediate suppression

by competition for growth factors with responder T cells. CD4+ or CD8+ T cells were stimulated with DC in the presence or absence of DN T cells together with exogenous IL-2 (500 U/mL) or T-cell growth factor (TCGF). CD4+ T cells revealed a strong proliferative response to allogeneic stimulation that could not be enhanced by addition of IL-2 or TCGF (data not shown). In contrast, addition of exogenous growth factors further increased proliferation of CD8+ T cells (Fig. 4C). Of note, the suppressive activity of DN T cells toward CD4+ or CD8+ responder T cells could not be overcome by the addition of exogenous IL-2 or TCGF. To further explore the mechanism by which DN T cells suppress responder T cells, we asked at what time after initiation of the activation process of responder cells DN T cells are still capable of suppressing proliferation. As shown in Fig. 5A, DN T cells added directly to the MLR revealed the highest suppressive capacity.

Contraindications: active bacterial infections (urinary tract, lung, hepatitis), systemic mycosis in the past 6 months; viral infections: herpes zoster or herpes simplex infections with acute reactivations in the past 3 months; HIV-infection and subsequent opportunistic infections in the past 3 months; other chronic or recurrent viral selleck kinase inhibitor or bacterial infections, malignant tumours,

organ transplantation with ongoing immunosuppression, pregnancy and lactation. Fingolimod (FTY 720) has a unique immunoregulatory mechanism of action. Following its in-vivo phosphorylation, FTY720 becomes FTY720-phosphate(p), a non-selective, high-affinity antagonist of sphingosine 1-phosphate receptors (S1P-R). FTY720-p binds directly to S1P-Rs on lymphocytes, selleck compound precipitating internalization and degradation of the receptor. This functional antagonism impairs the egress of autoreactive lymphocytes from lymph nodes along an endogenous chemotactic S1P-gradient. FTY720-p also binds to S1P-Rs on endothelial cells of the lymph node, which impairs the transmigration of lymphocytes from the medullary parenchyma to draining regions of lymph nodes. Hence, fingolimod retains T cells and B cells in secondary lymphatic organs, causes a pronounced lymphopenia in the blood and thus

impairs invasion of lymphocytes into the inflamed CNS parenchyma. Fingolimod may also exert direct protective effects on parenchymal cells (neurones, oligodendrocytes) in the CNS. Preparations and administration: in the United States, fingolimod [63, 64] is approved for basic therapy, whereas in Europe fingolimod is approved for the escalation therapy of patients with RRMS. Fingolimod is administered orally at a dose of 0·5 mg once daily. Clinical trials: a Phase III clinical trial is currently being initiated ADAMTS5 to compare oral fingolimod (0·5 mg/day) to placebo in patients with CIDP (‘Evaluate efficacy and safety of fingolimod 0·5 mg orally once daily versus placebo in chronic

inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy patients’). Adverse effects, frequent: infections, headache, gastrointestinal disturbances, bradycardia, elevation of liver enzymes; infrequent: sinuatrial block and/or atrioventricular block I–II°, increased arterial blood pressure, macula oedema. Contraindications: immunodeficency, severe active infections, chronic active infections (hepatitis, tuberculosis), active malignancies, severe liver dysfunction, pregnancy and lactation. Alemtuzumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody binding specifically to the CD52 antigen on the surface of B, T and natural killer (NK) cells, as well as monocytes and macrophages. It depletes these immune cell types by inducing complement-mediated cell lysis. Currently, alemtuzumab is approved for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphatic leukaemia of the B cell type (B-CLL).

Surface Vip (Lmo0320), a bacterial cell wall-anchored protein, also seems to be an important candidate in late stages of the infectious process. Endoplasmic reticulum resident chaperone Gp96 has been identified as a cellular receptor for Vip (Cabanes et al.,

2005). Gp96 is employed in the modulation www.selleckchem.com/products/ABT-263.html of the immune response by affecting the cellular trafficking of several molecules, including Toll-like receptors. It is predicted that Vip may not only use Gp96 as a receptor for invasion but may also sequester Gp96 to subvert immunological response. Earlier, researchers predicted the induction and thus the involvement of FAK and PI 3-kinase in the Listeria cell invasion as a consequence of Vip–Gp96 binding, as it occurs in E. coli invasion. However, later studies showed LDK378 that Listeria interaction with cells does not seem to induce FAK activation for cytoskeletal rearrangements. Similarly, no involvement of the Vip in the increase in tyrosine phosphorylation of protein associated with p85α or Gp96 has been reported elsewhere (Cabanes et al., 2005). Thus, the role of Vip–Gp96 interaction in the Listeria cell entry might be through other signal transduction events associated with Gp96 responses that remain to be elucidated. Another mechanism of BBB translocation, a Trojan horse, needs internalization/phagocytosis of the pathogen by monocytes wherein InlA and InlB play a

crucial role. These internalins and P60 protein bind specific receptors (like

complement Protein kinase N1 receptor) on phagocytic cells and trigger the internalization of bacteria through a variety of opsonin-dependent and opsonin-independent mechanisms. Internalization allows persistence in a shielded niche, concealed from circulating antibodies. Listeria, in its intracellular form, stimulates NF-κB and secretion of cytokines IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α in phagocytes. Listeria-infected monocytes further upregulate E-selectin, ICAM-1, P-selectin, and VCAM-1, which leads to the adherence to BMECs. The mechanism for this endothelial activation involves listeriolysin O-dependent triggering of NF-κB nuclear translocation in cerebral vessels (Kayal et al., 1999). Infected phagocytes may adhere to endothelium and thus bacteria can invade ECs by cell-to-cell spread in an hly- and actA-dependent process (Greiffenberg et al., 1998; Drevets, 1999). Infected phagocytes then cross the endothelial barrier, and infection can spread to the brain parenchyma cells or subarachnoid space and ventricles (Drevets & Leenen, 2000). As an alternative to adhering to and infecting the endothelium, infected phagocytes could transmigrate and enter the brain tissue. In this case, bacteria contained within phagocytes could spread to cells such as neurons and microglia (Dramsi et al., 1998). Interestingly, pneumococcus, meningococcus, and H. influenzae adhere to the BMECs via 37/67-kDa laminin receptor (LR).

Data are presented as mean ± SEM, and differences were considered significant at P ≤ 0·05. We infected 129/B6 mice lacking the IFN-α/βR (a common receptor for all type I IFNs) in the right hind footpad with 5 × 106 stationary-phase L. mexicana promastigotes and followed the course of lesion progression alongside infected WT 129/B6 mice (Figure 1a). The course of lesion development was not significantly different in IFN-α/βR see more KO and WT mice, with lesion sizes plateauing around 10–15 weeks post-infection. Parasite loads at 4, 12 and 23 weeks post-infection were

indistinguishable in WT and KO mice, with parasite burdens reaching a peak by 12 weeks post-infection at approximately 108 parasites/lesion (Figure 1b). We next wished to examine the immune response of IFN-α/βR KO and WT mice infected with L. mexicana. At various times, we harvested the draining lymph nodes and performed antigen-induced recall responses. At 4 weeks of infection, the IFN-γ response was 4·1-fold lower in IFN-α/βR KO mice than in WT mice (Figure 2a) indicating that IFN-α/β signalling may help encourage a partially protective IFN-γ response. However, by

17 weeks of infection, the IFN-γ response had declined in WT mice, with both WT and IFN-α/βR KO mice having very low IFN-γ Selleck Roxadustat responses (Figure 2a). Antigen-induced IL-4 responses were very low and did not differ between IFN-α/βR KO and WT mice (data not shown). In agreement with the lack of any change in parasite burdens, nitric oxide production (as measured by nitrite) in the recall response supernatants,

were not different in IFN-α/βR KO and WT mice at 4 or 23 weeks post-infection (Figure 2b). IL-10 has been shown to suppress a protective Th1 response to L. mexicana infection, as IL-10 KO mice are resistant to this infection (4). The antigen-induced responses of draining LN cells from IFN-α/βR KO and WT mice were also examined for IL-10 production. We found that the IL-10 response was diminished in the KO mice as compared with WT mice, indicating Selleck ZD1839 that type I IFNs may stimulate IL-10 production, thus giving IFN-α/β an immunosuppressive role (Figure 2c). At 4 weeks, there may have been less IL-10 (2·2-fold) in the KO mice, although this did not quite reach statistical significance (P = 0·09), but by 17 weeks, this was highly significant (P = 0·0002), with IFN-α/βR KO mice having 21-fold less IL-10 from draining LN cells than WT mice. Flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that a vast majority (88–89%) of IL-10+ cells were T cells in both WT and KO mice (Figure 3a, Table 1). Of the CD4+ T cells, 80–87% of IL-10+ cells were CD25+ (Table 1); CD25+CD4+ cells include Treg cells as well as newly activated effector cells. We did find that a lower percentage of CD25+CD4+CD3+ cells from IFN-α/βR KO mice were expressing IL-10 than in WT mice, although this did not quite reach statistical significance (Figure 3b, Table 1).

coli itself.

Furthermore, the conventional purification method for Stx2 is very cumbersome, because to obtain 440 μg of Stx2 from 12 L of culture supernatant, several purification steps (ammonium sulfate precipitation, DEAE-cellulose column chromatography, repeated chromatofocusing column chromatographs, repeated high performance liquid chromatographs) are BYL719 purchase needed, leading to significant protein loss [29]. Therefore, we constructed expression plasmids for Stx2 as histidine-tagged proteins to aid in the purification process. Western blot analysis using the anti-Stx2 antibody confirmed that the transformants expressed Stx2-His in the presence of lincomycin. Furthermore, the presence of a band of A subunit, which was crudely purified by TALON affinity chromatography, in the SDS–PAGE analysis of Stx2-His confirmed that the A subunit formed holotoxin complex with histidine-tagged B subunits. We attempted to eliminate contaminants from the crude Stx2-His preparations by hydroxyapatite chromatography because this chromatography method is effectively in purifying recombinant CT from other contaminants, including free CTB complexes [25]. However, prior to performing chromatography, the dialysis process in 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer without NaCl, which we used as the initial

binding buffer for hydroxyapatite chromatography, caused irreversible aggregation of Stx2-His, indicating Inositol oxygenase that histidine-tagged Stx2 is denatured into an insoluble Y-27632 research buy form under low-salt buffered conditions. The molecular mass of Stx2B-His, estimated by SDS–PAGE, was somewhat higher than that deduced from the amino acid sequence (8.6 kDa including 6 x His), despite the fact that the N-terminal modification of each subunit corresponded to that observed in previous studies [28]. However, we confirmed that non-tagged Stx2, which was expressed in the transformant using an expression plasmid (pBSK-Stx2) prepared by site-directed mutagenesis of pBSK-Stx2(His), had the same electric

mobility as EHEC-derived Stx2 (shown in Supporting Information), indicating that the observed increase in molecular mass of Stx2B-His might be attributable to a characteristic of histidine-tag fusion proteins that causes delayed electric mobility. Purified Stx2-His showed cytotoxic activity against HeLa229 cells and was lethal to mice, whereas the mutant toxin displayed decreased toxicity, as described in previous reports [15-17, 20, 21], even in the presence of 6 x His. To investigate whether mStx2-His is available as a vaccine antigen, we immunized mice s.c. with aluminum hydroxide. The mice immunized with mStx2-His produced serum toxin-neutralizing antibodies and survived a challenge with 10- and 100-fold MLD Stx2-His, whereas more than half the mice died when challenged with 1000-fold Stx2-His.

The day before the assay, 4 × 104 CHO-CysLT1 cells per well were check details seeded in a 96-well dark-walled plate (Costar, Corning, NY, USA) in 50 μl of Ham’s F12 medium,10% FBS and 1% L-glutamine. After overnight incubation at 37°C in 5% CO2 cells were washed four times with buffer [Hanks's balanced salt solution (HBSS) ×1 with calcium and magnesium and 20 mM HEPES, pH 7·4], resuspended in 50 μl of buffer and loaded using the Calcium 5

kit dye (Molecular Devices) for 1 h at room temperature. For the agonist mode, reference compounds dissolved with buffer plus 2·5 mM probenecid were added to CHO-CysLT1-loaded cells at 0·01 pM–100 μM final concentration and kinetic measurement of cytoplasmic calcium was determined in the Flexstation at an extinction wavelength of 485 nm and an emission wavelength of 525 nm. For antagonist mode, CHO-CysLT1 cells were preincubated for 1 h with reference compounds dissolved with buffer plus 2·5 mM probenecid at 0·01 pM–100 μM final concentration in addition to the calcium dye. The CysLT1

agonist (LTD4, 1 nM) was added and cytoplasmic calcium kinetics were measured. Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) were isolated from peripheral blood of normal volunteers by dextran sedimentation and centrifugation through PolymorphoPrep (Axis-Shield, Dundee, Scotland, MK0683 solubility dmso UK). After erythrocyte lysis, PMNs were washed and resuspended at a concentration of 1 × 106 cells/ml in Dulbecco’s phosphate-buffered saline (DPBS) with Ca2+ and Mg2+ containing BSA 0·1%, Hepes 10 mM (Invitrogen), glucose

10 mM at pH 7·4 (DPBS++). Before starting the chemotaxis assay, 24-transwell plates (Corning Inc., Corning, NY, USA) were equilibrated with DPBS+/+ (100 μl upper well and 600 μl lower well) for at least 1 h. Human recombinant IL-8 (600 μl) at 1·25 nM or vehicle (DPBS+/+) were added to the lower wells of the chemotaxis chamber. The wells were overlaid with a 5-μm pore size polycarbonate filter. PMNs P-type ATPase (100 μl) were placed in the upper wells, and the transwell plate was incubated (37°C, 5% CO2) for 30 min. Following incubation, media from the lower wells were placed into a clean tube. Each condition was run in duplicate, and cells that migrated across the filter towards the lower well were enumerated by fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS). To assess inhibition, PMNs were suspended in DPBS++ with vehicle (ethanol or DMSO < 0·1%), increasing concentrations (1 μM–0·1 nM) of the FPR2/ALX agonists (15-epi-LXA4 or compound 43) or CysTL1 antagonists (montelukast or MK-571) and incubated for 30 min at 37°C before their placement into the upper wells. The chemotactic properties of FPR2/ALX agonists and CysLT antagonists by themselves were studied by adding the compounds (100 nM) alone in the lower compartment of the migration chambers. Compound 43 was tested at three concentrations (0·01, 0·1 and 1 μM). IL-8 (1·25 nM) was used as positive control of neutrophil migration.