Retnla (Relmα/Fizz1) Suppresses Helminth-Induced Th2-Type Immunity (original) (raw)
Figure 5
Inflammation and fibrosis are exacerbated in S. mansoni infected Retnla−/− mice.
(A) Control WT C57BL/6 mice (N = 19 wk 9, N = 7 wk 12) and Retnla−/− (N = 17 wk 9, N = 8 wk 12) mice were infected with 30–35 S. mansoni cercariae percutaneously. Mice were sacrificed at weeks 9 and 12 post infection and liver RNA specimens were prepared individually for real-time RT-PCR analysis of Retnla, Retnlb, Retn, and Retnlg. Gene expression (mean±SEM) is expressed as the fold-increase over naïve WT controls after normalization to HPRT. In separate studies, the livers of S. mansoni infected mice were analyzed on wk 9 (WT N = 19, KO N = 17), 12 (WT N = 7, KO N = 8), and 25 (WT N = 10, KO N = 8) to evaluate the size of granulomas (Mean granuloma volume±SEM) as a measure of inflammation (B) and hydroxyproline content as a measure of fibrosis (C). Fibrosis was measured by quantifying hydroxyproline levels in the tissues and normalizing to the numbers of eggs deposited in the liver. Statistically significant differences and the corresponding p values are noted in the figures. Similar results were obtained in three separate experiments.