Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0019209 (hepatomegaly)
 5,798 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We previously reported that streptococcal preparation (OK-432), which is a TNF inducer, inhibits insulitis and development of autoimmune diabetes in nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice and Bio-Breeding (BB) rats, as animal models of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. We have recently shown that recombinant human (h)TNF-alpha also suppresses development of diabetes in NOD mice. In this study we have extended our observation on TNF to BB rats in order to see whether TNF generally inhibits autoimmune diabetes. A total of 5 x 10(4) U of rhTNF-alpha was administered i.p., twice a week to male and female BB rats from 4 to 27 wk of age. The cumulative incidence of diabetes by 27 wk of age in nontreated rats was 36.4% (8/22), whereas that in hTNF-alpha-treated rats was 0% (0/21) (p less than 0.001). The hTNF-alpha-treated rats did not lose body weight and maintained normal blood glucose concentrations. Immunologic and histologic examinations were performed at the end of the experiment. Spleen cell cytotoxicities for NK-sensitive YAC-1 and rat insulinoma (RINm5F) cells in hTNF-alpha-treated rats significantly decreased in comparison with nontreated and nondiabetic BB rats. Intensity of insulitis was also inhibited in hTNF-alpha-treated rats. Interestingly, a huge hepatomegaly and splenomegaly was found in two of the 21 hTNF-alpha-treated rats. The latter consisted of W3/13dull+ and W3/25dull+ cells, which did not exhibit cytotoxicity for either YAC-1 or RINm5F cells. These results indicate that the chronic and systemic administration of TNF has a regulatory role in autoimmune diabetes in BB rats as well as in NOD mice, and that these animals may have a defect in TNF-mediated immunoregulation.
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PMID:Inhibition of type 1 diabetes in BB rats with recombinant human tumor necrosis factor-alpha. 238 63

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a naturally occurring group of dienoic derivatives of linoleic acid found in beef and dairy products. CLA has been reported to reduce body fat. To examine the mechanism(s) of CLA reduction of fat mass, female C57BL/6J mice were fed standard semipurified diets (10% fat of total energy) with or without CLA (1% wt/wt). Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick endlabeling (TUNEL) and DNA fragmentation analysis revealed that fat-mass decrease by CLA was mainly due to apoptosis. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and uncoupling protein (UCP)-2 mRNA levels increased 12- and 6-fold, respectively, in isolated adipocytes from CLA-fed mice compared with control mice. Because it is known that TNF-alpha induces apoptosis of adipocytes and upregulates UCP2 mRNA, a marked increase of TNF-alpha mRNA with an increase of UCP2 in adipocytes caused CLA-induced apoptosis. However, with a decrease of fat mass, CLA supplementation resulted in a state resembling lipoatrophic diabetes: ablation of brown adipose tissue, a marked reduction of white adipose tissue, marked hepatomegaly, and marked insulin resistance. CLA supplementation decreased blood leptin levels, but continuous leptin infusion reversed hyperinsulinemia, indicating that leptin depletion contributes to the development of insulin resistance. These results demonstrate that intake of CLA reduces adipose tissue by apoptosis and results in lipodystrophy, but hyperinsulinemia by CLA can be normalized by leptin administration.
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PMID:Conjugated linoleic acid supplementation reduces adipose tissue by apoptosis and develops lipodystrophy in mice. 1096 38

Attenuated Salmonella strains have shown excellent efficacy as mucosal vaccine delivery systems. In the present report, several recombinant strains of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, engineered to express defined murine cytokines, were used to study their potential immunoregulatory capacity in the mouse model of typhoid fever. Specifically, recombinant strains expressing IL-2 (known as GIDIL2) or TNF-alpha (GIDTNF) were compared with the parental, non-cytokine-secreting, strain (BRD509) for their ability to induce a variety of immune responses in susceptible BALB/c mice. Our findings indicate that bacterially-expressed cytokines are functional in vivo and do induce a unique pattern of responses, quite distinct from that induced by BRD509 organisms. Both the type and magnitude of specific immune parameters were affected. These included the capacity to induce an inflammatory response resulting in a state of profound splenomegaly and hepatomegaly, activation of individual immune cells (particularly macrophages and other myeloid lineage cells), and the induction of nitric oxide (NO) secretion. Furthermore, a structural analysis using light as well as electron microscopy was undertaken to examine the host cellular response to infection with the different bacterial strains. The results indicate that cytokine expression by the invading pathogen can dramatically influence host immunity from a very early stage following infection. These findings may well have important consequences for the potential utilization of bacterial vector-encoded cytokines in immunoregulation in different disease settings.
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PMID:Cytokine expression by attenuated intracellular bacteria regulates the immune response to infection: the Salmonella model. 1200 71

Adiponectin has recently been shown to be a promising candidate for the treatment of obesity-associated metabolic syndromes. Replenishment of recombinant adiponectin in mice can decrease hyperglycemia, reverse insulin resistance, and cause sustained weight loss without affecting food intake. Here we report its potential roles in alcoholic and nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases in mice. Circulating concentrations of adiponectin decreased significantly following chronic consumption of high-fat ethanol-containing food. Delivery of recombinant adiponectin into these mice dramatically alleviated hepatomegaly and steatosis (fatty liver) and also significantly attenuated inflammation and the elevated levels of serum alanine aminotransferase. These therapeutic effects resulted partly from the ability of adiponectin to increase carnitine palmitoyltransferase I activity and enhance hepatic fatty acid oxidation, while it decreased the activities of two key enzymes involved in fatty acid synthesis, including acetyl-CoA carboxylase and fatty acid synthase. Furthermore, adiponectin treatment could suppress the hepatic production of TNF-alpha and plasma concentrations of this proinflammatory cytokine. Adiponectin was also effective in ameliorating hepatomegaly, steatosis, and alanine aminotransferase abnormality associated with nonalcoholic obese, ob/ob mice. These results demonstrate a novel mechanism of adiponectin action and suggest a potential clinical application of adiponectin and its agonists in the treatment of liver diseases.
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PMID:The fat-derived hormone adiponectin alleviates alcoholic and nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases in mice. 1284 63

Proinflammatory (TNF-alpha , IL-1beta, and NO) and antiinflammatory (IL-10, CO) levels were assayed in serum, liver, and small bowel in order to verify a hypothetic inflammatory etiopathogeny of portal hypertension that could be the cause of its evolutive heterogeneity. Male Wistar rats were divided into one control group (n=11) and one group with a triple stenosing ligation of the portal vein (n=23) after 28 days of evolution. In one subgroup of portal hypertensive rats, portal pressure, collateral venous circulation, mesenteric vasculopathy, and liver and spleen weights were determined. In the remaining rats with portal hypertension TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, and IL-10 were quantified in liver and ileum by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. NO synthase activity was studied in liver and ileum. CO and NO were measured in portal and systemic blood by spectrophotometry and Griess reaction, respectively. Portal hypertensive rats with mayor spleen weight show hepatomegaly and mayor development of collateral circulation. Ileum release of IL-10 (0.30 +/- 0.12 versus 0.14 +/- 0.02 pmol/mg protein; P< .01) is associated with a liver production of both proinflammatory mediators (TNF-alpha: 2 +/- 0.21 versus 1.32 +/- 0.60 pmol/mg protein; P< .05, IL-1beta: 19.17 +/- 2.87 versus 5.96 +/- 1.84 pmol/mg protein; P=.005, and NO: 132.10 +/- 34.72 versus 61.05 +/- 8.30 nmol/mL; P=.005) and an antiinflammatory mediator (CO: 6.49 +/- 2.99 versus 3.03 +/- 1.59 pmol/mL; P=.005). In short-term prehepatic portal hypertension a gut-liver inflammatory loop, which could be fundamental in the regulation both of the portal pressure and of its complications, could be proposed.
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PMID:Proinflammatory liver and antiinflammatory intestinal mediators involved in portal hypertensive rats. 1603 Mar 93

CD137-mediated signals costimulate T cells and protect them from activation-induced apoptosis; they induce curative antitumor immunity and enhance antiviral immune responses in mice. In contrast, anti-CD137 agonistic mAbs can suppress T-dependent humoral immunity and reverse the course of established autoimmune disease. These results have provided a rationale for assessing the therapeutic potential of CD137 ligands in human clinical trials. In this study, we report that a single 200-mug injection of anti-CD137 given to otherwise naive BALB/c or C57BL/6 mice led to the development of a series of immunological anomalies. These included splenomegaly, lymphadenopathy, hepatomegaly, multifocal hepatitis, anemia, altered trafficking of B cells and CD8 T cells, loss of NK cells, and a 10-fold increase in bone marrow (BM) cells bearing the phenotype of hemopoietic stem cells. These events were dependent on CD8 T cells, TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma, and type I IFNs. BM cells up-regulated Fas, and there was a significant increase in the number of CD8+ T cells that correlated with a loss of CD19+ and Ab-secreting cells in the BM. TCR Valphabeta usage was random and polyclonal among liver-infiltrating CD8 T cells, and multifocal CD8+ T cell infiltrates were resolved upon termination of anti-CD137 treatment. Anti-CD137-treated mice developed lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia, and anemia, and had lowered levels of hemoglobin and increased numbers of reticulocytes.
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PMID:Cytokine-mediated disruption of lymphocyte trafficking, hemopoiesis, and induction of lymphopenia, anemia, and thrombocytopenia in anti-CD137-treated mice. 1737 76

Arsenicosis is a multisystem disorder, with virtually no system spared from its vicious claw; though its predominant manifestations are linked to cutaneous involvement. Cutaneous effects take the form of pigmentary changes, hyperkeratosis, and skin cancers (Bowen's disease, squamous cell carcinoma, and basal cell epithelioma). Peripheral vascular disease (blackfoot disease), hypertension, ischemic heart disease, noncirrhotic portal hypertension, hepatomegaly, peripheral neuropathy, respiratory and renal involvement, bad obstetrical outcome, hematological disturbances, and diabetes mellitus are among the other clinical features linked to arsenic toxicity. The effects are mediated principally by the trivalent form of arsenic (arsenite), which by its ability to bind with sulfhydryl groups present in various essential compounds leads to inactivation and derangement of body function. Though the toxicities are mostly linked to the trivalent state, arsenic is consumed mainly in its pentavalent form (arsenate), and reduction of arsenate to arsenite is mediated through glutathione. Body attempts to detoxify the agent via repeated oxidative methylation and reduction reaction, leading to the generation of methylated metabolites, which are excreted in the urine. Understandably the detoxification/bio-inactivation process is not a complete defense against the vicious metalloid, and it can cause chromosomal aberration, impairment of DNA repair process, alteration in the activity of tumor suppressor gene, etc., leading to genotoxicity and carcinogenicity. Arsenic causes apoptosis via free radical generation, and the cutaneous toxicity is linked to its effect on various cytokines (e.g., IL-8, TGF-beta, TNF-alpha, GM-CSF), growth factors, and transcription factors. Increased expression of cytokeratins, keratin-16 (marker for hyperproliferation) and keratin-8 and -18 (marker for less differentiated epithelial cells), can be related to the histopathological findings of hyperkeratosis and dysplastic cells in the arsenicosis skin lesion.
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PMID:Pathogenesis, clinical features and pathology of chronic arsenicosis. 1917 78