Issue Archive

[Allergens-induced sensitization alters airway epithelial adhesion molecules expression in mice.] [Article in Chinese]

ZENG Dan, TAN Mei-Ling, XIANG Yang, QIN XIAO-QUN, ZHU Li-Ming, DAI Ai-Guo

Department of Respiratory Medicine, Geriatric Hospital of Hunan Province, Changsha 410016, China； Department of Physiology, Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha 410013, China

Abstract

To explore the relationship between the epithelial adhesion molecules and immune responses of airway epithelium, we observed the expression of integrin β4 and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) in the mice airway epithelium after sensitization with allergens. BALB/c mice were sensitized with intraperitoneal injection of ovalbumin (OVA) or house dust mite (HDM) and then developed airway hyper-responsiveness as determined by barometric whole-body plethysmography. Both OVA and HDM sensitization led to increases of the number of peripheral leukocytes as well as inflammatory cells infiltration in lungs. OVA sensitized mice showed more severe inflammatory cells infiltration than HDM sensitized mice. Immunohistochemistry analysis of mice lung tissues revealed that sensitization with both allergens also led to a decrease of integrin β4 expression and an increase of ICAM-1 expression in airway epithelia. OVA sensitized mice showed a more significant increase of ICAM-1 expression compared with HDM sensitized mice. siRNA mediated silencing of integrin β4 gene in 16HBE cells resulted in an up-regulation of ICAM-1 expression. Our results indicate a possible role of airway epithelial adhesion molecules in allergen-induced airway immune responses.

Key words: house dust mite; ovalbumin; adhesion molecules; integrin β4; intercellular adhesion molecule-1

Received: 2015-06-17　　Accepted: 2015-06-17

Corresponding author: 秦晓群　　E-mail: qinxiaoqun@csu.edu.cn

Citing This Article：

ZENG Dan, TAN Mei-Ling, XIANG Yang, QIN XIAO-QUN, ZHU Li-Ming, DAI Ai-Guo. [Allergens-induced sensitization alters airway epithelial adhesion molecules expression in mice.] [Article in Chinese]. Acta Physiol Sin 2015; 67 (6): 596-602 (in Chinese with English abstract).