Rat Monocyte Chemotactic Protein 3 ELISA Kit

Here we fully characterize the cytokine profile of laboring human myometrium using Luminex analysis of 48 cytokine proteins, and stereologically quantified infiltration of monocytes and neutrophils into the myometrium. We hypothesized that monocytes can regulate their accumulation in the myometrium by disruption of proinflammatory cytokines to prevent an uncontrolled inflammatory response after labor onset. We isolated primary human myometrial cells (HMCs) from term, nonlaboring myometrial biopsies. Confluent HMCs were cocultured directly with human monocytic (THP-1) or lymphocytic (U937) cells, and with the same cells spatially separated by a membrane insert. After 72 h, HMCs and THP-1 were harvested separately, and RNA was extracted and analyzed by quantitative PCR. Coculture supernatants were collected and analyzed by Luminex assay and ELISA. We found that the laboring human myometrium produces significantly higher amounts of interleukin (IL) 6, IL9, IL18, IL1RA, CCL2, CCL7, CXCL8, CSF3, and tumor necrosis factor alpha, which coincides with the influx of immune cells. The direct contact or presence of THP-1 monocytes (but not U937 cells) significantly decreased CCL2 protein levels and increased IL1RA protein levels secreted by HMCs. This time-dependent decrease of CCL2 was greater with increasing number of monocytes being in direct contact with HMCs. We suggest a novel mechanism by which monocytes are first recruited to the myometrium by multiple cytokines and contribute to the physiologic inflammation of labor. After completing transmigration, activated monocytes disrupt locally established CCL2 gradients (possible by CCR2-mediated consumption) to limit their accumulation in the uterus. This mechanism may serve as a negative feedback loop to control the local inflammation and promote a return to homeostasis.

The main cause of death for colorectal cancer (CRC) patients is the development of metastatic lesions at sites distant from the primary tumor. Therefore, it is important to find biomarkers that are related to the metastasis and to study the possible mechanisms. Recent data have shown that soluble attractant molecules called chemokines support the metastasis of certain cancers to certain organs. To identify molecular regulators that are differentially expressed in liver metastasis of CRC, PCR array analysis was performed and CC chemokine ligand 7 (CCL7) showed remarkable overexpression in liver metastatic tumor tissues. To validate the results of the PCR array, 30 patients with primary CRC and liver metastases were selected. Immunohistochemistry and real-time PCR analysis showed that CCL7 was expressed in normal colonic epithelium and the expression was higher in liver metastases compared to primary CRC (P<0.001). Real-time PCR showed that the expression of CCR1, CCR2 and CCR3 was also higher in liver metastases compared to primary CRC (P=0.001, P=0.033 and P<0.001, respectively). In conclusion, correlation of CCL7 overexpression and its receptor expression with colon cancer liver metastasis suggests that CCL7 as a novel target in liver metastasis of CRC may be of potential clinical value for the prevention of hepatic recurrences.