| 1. |
- Li, Jinan, et al.
(författare)
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The plasminogen activator/plasmin system is essential for development of the joint inflammatory phase of collagen type II-induced arthritis.
- 2005
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Ingår i: American Journal of Pathology. - New York : Elsevier. - 0002-9440 .- 1525-2191. ; 166:3, s. 783-792
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The plasminogen activator (PA) system has been proposed to have important roles in rheumatoid arthritis. Here we have used the autoimmune collagen type II (CII)-induced arthritis (CIA) model and mice deficient for urokinase-type PA (uPA) or plasminogen to investigate the role of the PA system for development of arthritis. Our data revealed that uPA-deficient mice have a lower severity and incidence of CIA than wild-type mice. Furthermore, although >80% of wild-type control mice developed CIA, we found that none of the 50 plasminogen-deficient littermates that were tested developed CIA within a 40-day period. Antibody generation after CII immunization as well as the binding of labeled anti-CII antibodies to the surface of cartilage were similar in wild-type and plasminogen-deficient mice. No sign of inflammation was seen when plasminogen-deficient mice were injected with a mixture of monoclonal antibodies against CII. However, after daily injections of human plasminogen, these mice developed arthritis within 5 days. Our finding that infiltration of inflammatory cells into the synovial joints was impaired in plasminogen-deficient mice suggests that uPA and plasminogen are important mediators of joint inflammation. Active plasmin is therefore essential for the induction of pathological inflammatory joint destruction in CIA.
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| 2. |
- Liu, Kui, et al.
(författare)
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Successful ovulation in plasminogen-deficient mice treated with the broad-spectrum matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor galardin.
- 2006
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Ingår i: Developmental Biology. - New York : Academic P.. - 0012-1606 .- 1095-564X. ; 295:2, s. 615-622
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many studies have suggested the hypothesis that the plasminogen activator (PA) system and the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) system, either separately or in combination, may provide the proteolytic activity that is required for rupture of the follicular wall at the time of ovulation. Our recent studies on ovulation in plasminogen (plg)-deficient mice have, however, shown that plasmin is not required for normal ovulation, leading us to the hypothesis that MMPs may be a more important source of proteolysis for this process. To investigate the role of MMPs and also the possibility of a functional overlap or synergy between the MMP and PA systems during ovulation, we have studied ovulation efficiency in wild-type and plg-deficient mice treated with the broad-spectrum MMP inhibitor galardin. We found that in both wild-type mice and heterozygous plg-deficient (plg(+/-)) mice that had been treated with galardin prior to ovulation, there was a mild (18-20%) reduction in ovulation efficiency. Surprisingly, galardin treatment of plg-deficient (plg(-/-)) mice only caused an additional 14% reduction in ovulation efficiency as compared to vehicle-treated plg(-/-) mice. Our data therefore suggest that although MMPs may play a role in degradation of the follicular wall, they may not be obligatory for ovulation. In contrast to previous studies on tissue remodeling during wound heating and placental development, we have demonstrated that there is no obvious functional overlap or synergy between the PA and MMP systems, which has previously been thought to be essential for the ovulatory process.
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| 3. |
- Eriksson, Per-Olof, et al.
(författare)
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Spontaneous development of otitis media in plasminogen-deficient mice
- 2006
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Ingår i: International Journal of Medical Microbiology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1438-4221 .- 1618-0607. ; 296:7, s. 501-509
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Inflammatory conditions of the ear, otitis media, are one of the most common disease entities in children. In this study, the role of the plasminogen (plg)/plasmin system for the spontaneous development of chronic otitis media was investigated by the analysis of plg-deficient mice. Whereas essentially all of the wild-type control mice kept a healthy status of the middle ear, all the plg-deficient mice gradually developed chronic otitis media with various degrees of inflammatory changes during an 18-week observation period. Five bacterial strains were identified in materials obtained from the middle ear cavities of six plg-deficient mice. Morphological studies revealed the formation of an amorphous mass tissue and inflammatory changes in the middle ears of plg-deficient mice. Immunohistochemical studies further indicate a mass infiltration of neutrophils and macrophages as well as the presence of T and B cells in the middle ear mucosa of these mice. Extensive fibrin deposition and an abnormal keratin formation were also observed in the tympanic membrane, the middle ear cavity and external ear canal in these mice. These results suggest that plg plays an essential role in protecting against the spontaneous development of chronic otitis media. Our findings also suggest the possibility of using plg for clinical therapy of certain types of otitis media.
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| 4. |
- Grimsholm, Ola, et al.
(författare)
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Are neuropeptides important in arthritis? Studies on the importance of bombesin/GRP and substance P in a murine arthritis model.
- 2007
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Ingår i: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. - : Wiley. - 0077-8923 .- 1749-6632. ; 1110, s. 525-538
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Interference with the effects of neuropeptides may be of potential therapeutic value for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Two neuropeptides that can be discussed in this context are bombesin/gastrin-releasing peptide (BN/GRP) and substance P (SP). In order to obtain new information on the possible importance of these two peptides, the patterns of immunohistochemical expression of BN/GRP and SP and their related receptors in the mouse knee joint from healthy and arthritic mice were examined. Positive staining for GRP receptor and the SP preferred receptor (the neurokinin-1 receptor [NK-1 R]) was observed in articular chondrocytes. On the whole, there was a decrease in immunoreactions for both the GRP- and the NK-1 receptors in the articular chondrocytes in joints exhibiting severe arthritis. Staining for BN/GRP and GRP receptor was seen in the inflammatory infiltrates of the arthritic joints. New evidence for the occurrence of marked effects of BN/GRP concerning both the articular chondrocytes and the inflammatory process is obtained in this study. With these findings and previous observations of neuropeptide expression patterns and functions we discuss the possibility that interventions with the effects of BN/GRP, SP, and other neuropeptides might be worthwhile in RA.
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| 5. |
- Grimsholm, Ola, et al.
(författare)
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Expression patterns of neurotrophins and neurotrophin receptors in articular chondrocytes and inflammatory infiltrates in knee joint arthritis.
- 2008
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Ingår i: Cells, tissues, organs. - : S. Karger AG. - 1422-6421 .- 1422-6405. ; 188:3, s. 299-309
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: It is likely that neurotrophins (NTs) are of great importance for the articular cartilage and the inflammation process in arthritis. METHODS: The immunohistochemical expression of the NTs nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and the associated receptors p75, TrkA and TrkB was examined in the knee joint of arthritic and healthy mice. RESULTS: Immunoreactions for NGF and BDNF were detected in cells and nerve fiber varicosities in the inflammatory infiltrates of the synovial tissue of arthritic joints but not in synovial tissue of controls. p75-immunoreactive nerve fiber-like strands were detected in inflammatory infiltrates. Immunostaining for NGF, BDNF, p75, TrkA and TrkB was noted in articular chondrocytes. There was a statistically significant decrease in reactions for NGF (p < 0.001), TrkA (p = 0.001) and p75 (p < 0.001) in articular chondrocytes in joints exhibiting severe arthritis. CONCLUSION: The findings show that an NT system develops in inflammatory infiltrates of the synovial tissue. Furthermore, most interestingly, autocrine/paracrine effects appear to exist concerning NTs for the articular chondrocytes. The downregulated expression of NGF and NT receptors in articular chondrocytes in arthritis is a new aspect concerning the involvement of NTs in cartilage.
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| 6. |
- Guo, Yongzhi, 1972-
(författare)
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Plasmin : a potent pro-inflammatory factor
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Plasmin, the central molecule of the plasminogen activator system, is a broad-spectrum serine protease. Plasmin is important for the degradation of fibrin and other components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) during a number of physiological and pathological processes. The aim of this thesis was to elucidate the functional roles of plasmin during pathological inflammation and infection in autoimmune and non-autoimmune diseases. For this purpose, mouse models of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), bacterial arthritis, infection, and sepsis have been used. Previous studies from our laboratory have shown that plasminogen-deficient mice are resistant to the development of collagen type II-induced arthritis (CIA). In contrast, others have shown that plasmin plays a protective role in antigen-induced arthritis (AIA). To investigate the contrasting roles of plasminogen deficiency in models of CIA and AIA, a new animal model of arthritis called local injection-induced arthritis (LIA) was developed. In this model, we replaced methylated bovine serum albumin, which is normally used as an immunogen in the AIA model, with collagen type II (CII) to induce arthritis. When wild-type and plasminogen-deficient mice were injected intra-articularly with CII or 0.9% NaCl following CIA induction, plasminogen-deficient mice developed typical CIA, but the disease was less severe than in wild-type mice and was restricted to the injected joints. When the AIA model was used, plasminogen-deficient mice developed a much more severe arthritis than the wild-type mice. These results indicate that both the antigen and joint trauma caused by the local injection are critical to explaining the contrasting roles of plasminogen deficiency in CIA and AIA. This indicates that CIA and AIA have distinct pathogenic mechanisms and plasmin plays contrasting roles in different types of arthritis models. To study the functional roles of plasmin in the host inflammatory response during infectious arthritis, a Staphylococcus aureus-induced bacterial arthritis model was established. When wild-type mice were injected intra-articularly with 1 × 106 colony-forming units (CFU) of S. aureus per joint, all the bacteria were completely eliminated from the injected joints in 28 days. However, in the plasminogen-deficient mice, the S. aureus counts were 27-fold higher at day 28 than at day 0. When human plasminogen was given to the plasminogen-deficient mice daily for 7 days, the bacterial clearance was greatly improved and the necrotic tissue in the joint cavity was also completely eliminated. Supplementation of plasminogen-deficient mice with plasminogen also restored the expression level of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the arthritic joints. In summary, plasmin has protective roles during S. aureus-induced arthritis by enhancing cytokine expression, removing necrotic tissue, and mediating bacterial killing and inflammatory cell activation. The functional roles of plasmin during infection and sepsis were also studied in mice. Infection was induced by injecting 1 × 107 CFU of S. aureus intravenously and the sepsis model was induced by injecting 1.6 × 108 CFU of S. aureus. In the infection model, the wild-type mice had a 25-day survival rate of 86.7%, as compared to 50% in the plasminogen-deficient group. However, when sepsis was induced, the average survival for plasminogen-deficient mice was 3 days longer than for wild-type mice. Twenty-four hours after the induction of sepsis, the serum levels of IL-6 and IL-10 as well as the bacterial counts in all organs investigated were significantly higher in wild-type mice than in plasminogen-deficient mice. In wild-type mice, blockade of IL-6 by intravenous injection of anti-IL-6 antibodies significantly prolonged the onset of mortality and improved the survival rate during sepsis. These data indicate that plasmin plays different roles during infection and sepsis. Furthermore, plasmin appears to be involved in the regulation of inflammatory cytokine expression during sepsis. Taken together, our data indicate that plasmin plays multifunctional pro-inflammatory roles in different autoimmune and non-autoimmune diseases. The pro-inflammatory roles of plasmin include activation of inflammatory cells, regulation of cytokine expression, and enhancement of the bacterial killing ability of the host.
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| 7. |
- Guo, Yongzhi, et al.
(författare)
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Protective effects of plasmin(ogen) in a mouse model of Staphylococcus aureus-induced arthritis
- 2008
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Ingår i: Arthritis and rheumatism. - : Wiley. - 0004-3591 .- 1529-0131. ; 58:3, s. 764-772
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: To assess the functional roles of plasmin in a murine model of Staphylococcus aureus-induced bacterial arthritis. Methods: Bacterial arthritis was induced in plasminogen-deficient (Plg-/-) and wild-type (Plg+/+) littermates by local injection of 1 × 106 colony-forming units of S aureus into the knee joints. Human plasminogen was administered to Plg-/- mice on days 0-7 or days 7-14. Antibiotic treatment was administered to Plg-/- mice on days 7-14. Bacteria counts and histologic, immunohistochemical, and Western blot analyses were performed. Results: In Plg+/+ mice, S aureus counts had declined within 2 days, and by day 28 the bacteria had been completely eliminated. However, S aureus was still detectable in all injected joints from Plg-/- mice, and bacteria counts were 27 times higher than the amount injected on day 0. The extent of macrophage and neutrophil recruitment to the infected joints was comparable for Plg+/+ and Plg-/- mice on days 1, 7, and 14. The activation of these inflammatory cells appeared to be impaired in Plg-/- mice, however. Treatment of Plg-/- mice with antibiotic (cloxacillin) resulted in successful killing of the bacteria, but the necrotic tissue remained in the infected joints. When human plasminogen was given intravenously to Plg-/- mice daily for 7 days, bacterial clearance was greatly improved as compared with their untreated counterparts, and the amount of necrotic tissue in the joint cavity was dramatically reduced. The expression of interleukin 6 (IL-6) and IL-10 was higher in Plg+/+ mice than in Plg-/- mice during bacterial arthritis. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that plasmin plays a pluripotent role in protecting against S aureus-induced arthritis by activating inflammatory cells, killing bacteria, removing necrotic tissue, and enhancing cytokine expression.
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| 8. |
- Hansson, Annika, 1979-
(författare)
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The effects of plasminogen deficiency on the healing of tympanic membrane perforations
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The healing of tympanic membrane (TM) perforations is a complex wound healing process including inflammation, migration of keratinocytes and tissue remodelling. Most TM perforations in human heal spontaneously, however some perforations become chronic, and the reason to why is still largely unknown. In cutaneous wound healing plasminogen (plg) has been shown to play an important role. Plg is converted into the protease plasmin regulated by two plasminogen activators (PA), urokinase type PA (uPA) and tissue-type PA (tPA). The aim of the present thesis was to evaluate the role of plg in healing of TM perforations, both in vivo and in vitro. The main objectives were to determine the healing capacity of the TM, the involvement of keratinocytes, fibrin(ogen) and inflammatory cells in the healing process. The studies were performed in plg deficient and uPA deficient mice, with littermate wild type (wt) mice as controls It was shown that myringotomies of the TMs in plg deficient mice still remained open 143 days following a perforation. The wound area was characterized by an abundant recruitment and accumulation of inflammatory cells; mainly macrophages and neutrophils, an arrested keratinocyte migration and a fibrin deposition covering the surface of the TM. The TM perforations in the wt mice all healed within 11 days. Interestingly, the myringotomies of the plg deficient mice could be closed by reconstitution with systemic injections of plg, whereas injections of PBS had no affect on the healing. To characterize mechanisms involved in the development of persistent TM perforations in plg deficient mice after a myringotomy the early inflammatory response during the first 48 hours was studied. The recruitment and accumulation of inflammatory cells in the perforated TMs was found to be similar between the plg deficient and the wt mice. Myringotomized TMs in uPA deficient mice healed similar to perforations of wt controls. Neither did the keratinocyte migration nor the occurrence of inflammatory cells differ between these genotypes. In the in vitro experiments TMs from plg deficient and wt mice, were dissected out, perforated and cultured in absence or surplus of plg. A decrease in perforation size was seen in all groups regardless of genotype or amount of plg in the medium. In conclusion, the present studies show: • Plg is essential for the healing of TM perforations in mice. • The altered healing process after a myringotomy in plg deficient mice involves a disturbed keratinocyte migration, a massive deposition of fibrin and an abundant accumulation of inflammatory cells in the wound area. • Plasminogen deficiency does not alter the early inflammatory response, following a myringotomy. • Deficiency of uPA does not influence the healing of TM perforations. • During in vitro conditions healing of TM perforations is initiated irrespectively of genotype of the explant (plg deficient or wt) or supply of plg. The increased knowledge of the involvement of plg in the healing of TM perforations may open therapeutical possibilities in the treatment of chronic TM perforations in humans.
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| 9. |
- Isaksson, Mikael, et al.
(författare)
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Extentded Förster theory for determining intraprotein distances : 2. An accurate analysis of fluorescence depolarisation experiments
- 2007
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Ingår i: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 9:29, s. 3914-3922
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The extended Förster theory (EFT) is for the first time applied to the quantitative determination of the intramolecular distances in proteins. It is shown how the EFT (J. Chem. Phys., 1996, 105, 10896) can be adapted to the analyses of fluorescence depolarisation experiments based on the time-correlated single photon counting technique (TCSPC). The protein system studied was the latent form of plasminogen activator inhibitor type I (PAI-1), which was mutated and labelled by the thiol reactive BODIPY® derivative {N-(4,4-difluoro-5,7-dimethyl-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene-3-yl)methyl iodoacetamide}. The energy migration occurs within pairs of photophysically identical donor groups that undergo reorientational motions on the timescales of energy migration and fluorescence relaxation. Unlike all models currently used for analysing fluorescence TCSPC data, the EFT explicitly accounts for the time-dependent reorientations that influence the rate of electronic energy transfer/migration in a complex manner. The complexity is related to the “κ2 problem”, which has been discussed for years. The EFT brings the analyses of DDEM data to the same level of molecular description as in ESR and NMR spectroscopy, i.e. it yields microscopic information about the reorientation correlation times, the order parameters, as well as inter-chromophoric distances.
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| 10. |
- Li, Jinan, et al.
(författare)
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Contrasting roles of plasminogen deficiency in different rheumatoid arthritis models.
- 2005
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Ingår i: Arthritis and Rheumatism. - : Wiley. - 0004-3591 .- 1529-0131. ; 52:8, s. 2541-2548
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: To investigate the contrasting roles of plasminogen deficiency between models of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) and antigen-induced arthritis (AIA). METHODS: We developed a new animal model of arthritis, which we have called local injection-induced arthritis (LIA). In this model, we replaced methylated bovine serum albumin, which is normally used as an immunogen and is injected intraarticularly into the knee joint, with type II collagen (CII) to induce AIA. The severity of CIA, LIA, and AIA in wild-type and plasminogen-deficient mice was evaluated by clinical scoring or histologic grading. Necrosis was determined by histology and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: After CII immunization alone, wild-type mice developed arthritis in most of the paws as well as in the knee joints, whereas plasminogen-deficient mice were totally resistant to the disease. Local knee injections of CII or saline slightly enhanced the severity of the knee arthritis in wild-type mice during a 60-day experimental period. Unexpectedly, the plasminogen-deficient mice also developed arthritis in joints that were injected with CII or saline. However, the arthritis was milder than that in their wild-type littermates. Sustained tissue necrosis was found only in the plasminogen-deficient mice after the local injection. CONCLUSION: Our data show that both the antigen and the joint trauma caused by the local injection are critical to explaining the contrasting roles of plasminogen deficiency in CIA and AIA. This further indicates that CIA and AIA have distinct pathogenic mechanisms. The data also suggest that plasmin may be required for the induction of these arthritis models that are critically dependent on complement activation.
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