Evaluation of low-volume plasma sampling for the analysis of meropenem in clinical samples.

Reducing the volume of blood sampled from neonatal or paediatric patients is important to facilitate research in a group that is under-represented in clinical studies. Not all patients have a cannula available for blood sampling, meaning there are real advantages in obtaining a blood microsample by skin prick. In this study, the results obtained from both capillary microsamples (CMS) and a microfluidic (MF)-CMS by skin prick are compared to conventional plasma sampled from an arterial catheter in a clinical bridging study. Six critically ill patients receiving meropenem were included with the incurred sample reanalysis test meeting the acceptance criteria for both CMS (n = 24 samples) and MF-CMS (n = 20 samples). Bland-Altman plots comparing MF-CMS to conventional arterial blood sampling revealed a difference of - 12.7 ± 22.1% (mean ± standard deviation (SD), and comparing CMS to conventional arterial blood sampling a difference of - 3.4 ± 17.0%. At - 12.7%, the bias between MF-CMS and conventional sampling is greater than the bias found with CMS, although within the limit of acceptability for analytical accuracy (that being ± 15%). Samples collected by skin prick and using CMS produced meropenem concentrations that were comparable to those obtained from conventional arterial catheter sampling. CMS samples were found to be stable when stored in the capillary tube for 24 h at 5 °C or for 4 h at room temperature.

Systems biology evaluation of immune responses induced by human host defence peptide LL-37 in mononuclear cells.

The immune system is very complex, it involves the integrated regulation and expression of hundreds of proteins. To understand in greater detail how the human host defence immunomodulatory peptide LL-37 interacts with innate immunity, a systems approach was pursued. Polychromatic flow cytometry was employed to demonstrate that within human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, CD14+ monocytes, myeloid and plasmocytoid dendritic cells and T- and B-lymphocytes, all responded to LL-37, with the differential production of intracellular cytokines. Microarray analyses with CD14+ monocytes indicated the differential expression of 475 genes in response to stimulation with LL-37. To understand this complex response, bioinformatic interrogation, using InnateDB, of the gene ontology, signalling pathways and transcription factor binding sites was undertaken. Activation of the IkappaBalpha/NFkappaB, mitogen-activated protein kinases p38, ERK1/2 and JNK, and PI3K signalling pathways in response to LL-37 was demonstrated by pathway and ontology over-representation analyses, and confirmed experimentally by inhibitor studies. Computational analysis of the predicted transcription factor binding sites upstream of the genes that were regulated by LL-37 predicted the involvement of several transcription factors including NFkappaB and five novel factors, AP-1, AP-2, SP-1, E2F1, and EGR, which were experimentally confirmed to respond to LL-37 by performing transcription factor array studies on nuclear extracts from LL-37 treated mononuclear cells. These data are discussed as reflecting the integration of several responsive signalling pathways through the involvement of transcription factor complexes in gene expression activated by LL-37 in human mononuclear cells.

InnateDB: facilitating systems-level analyses of the mammalian innate immune response.

Although considerable progress has been made in dissecting the signaling pathways involved in the innate immune response, it is now apparent that this response can no longer be productively thought of in terms of simple linear pathways. InnateDB (www.innatedb.ca) has been developed to facilitate systems-level analyses that will provide better insight into the complex networks of pathways and interactions that govern the innate immune response. InnateDB is a publicly available, manually curated, integrative biology database of the human and mouse molecules, experimentally verified interactions and pathways involved in innate immunity, along with centralized annotation on the broader human and mouse interactomes. To date, more than 3500 innate immunity-relevant interactions have been contextually annotated through the review of 1000 plus publications. Integrated into InnateDB are novel bioinformatics resources, including network visualization software, pathway analysis, orthologous interaction network construction and the ability to overlay user-supplied gene expression data in an intuitively displayed molecular interaction network and pathway context, which will enable biologists without a computational background to explore their data in a more systems-oriented manner.

The commensal Streptococcus salivarius K12 downregulates the innate immune responses of human epithelial cells and promotes host-microbe homeostasis.

Streptococcus salivarius is an early colonizer of human oral and nasopharyngeal epithelia, and strain K12 has reported probiotic effects. An emerging paradigm indicates that commensal bacteria downregulate immune responses through the action on NF-kappaB signaling pathways, but additional mechanisms underlying probiotic actions are not well understood. Our objective here was to identify host genes specifically targeted by K12 by comparing their responses with responses elicited by pathogens and to determine if S. salivarius modulates epithelial cell immune responses. RNA was extracted from human bronchial epithelial cells (16HBE14O- cells) cocultured with K12 or bacterial pathogens. cDNA was hybridized to a human 21K oligonucleotide-based array. Data were analyzed using ArrayPipe, InnateDB, PANTHER, and oPOSSUM. Interleukin 8 (IL-8) and growth-regulated oncogene alpha (Groalpha) secretion were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. It was demonstrated that S. salivarius K12 specifically altered the expression of 565 host genes, particularly those involved in multiple innate defense pathways, general epithelial cell function and homeostasis, cytoskeletal remodeling, cell development and migration, and signaling pathways. It inhibited baseline IL-8 secretion and IL-8 responses to LL-37, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and flagellin in epithelial cells and attenuated Groalpha secretion in response to flagellin. Immunosuppression was coincident with the inhibition of activation of the NF-kappaB pathway. Thus, the commensal and probiotic behaviors of S. salivarius K12 are proposed to be due to the organism (i) eliciting no proinflammatory response, (ii) stimulating an anti-inflammatory response, and (iii) modulating genes associated with adhesion to the epithelial layer and homeostasis. S. salivarius K12 might thereby ensure that it is tolerated by the host and maintained on the epithelial surface while actively protecting the host from inflammation and apoptosis induced by pathogens.