Published in:
Open Access 01-12-2010 | Research article
Modulation of hepatic PPAR expression during Ft LVS LPS-induced protection from Francisella tularensis LVS infection
Published in: BMC Infectious Diseases | Issue 1/2010
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Background
It has been shown previously that administration of Francisella tularensis (Ft) Live Vaccine Strain (LVS) lipopolysaccharide (LPS) protects mice against subsequent challenge with Ft LVS and blunts the pro-inflammatory cytokine response.
Methods
To further investigate the molecular mechanisms that underlie Ft LVS LPS-mediated protection, we profiled global hepatic gene expression following Ft LVS LPS or saline pre-treatment and subsequent Ft LVS challenge using Affymetrix arrays.
Results
A large number of genes (> 3,000) were differentially expressed at 48 hours post-infection. The degree of modulation of inflammatory genes by infection was clearly attenuated by pre-treatment with Ft LVS LPS in the surviving mice. However, Ft LVS LPS alone had a subtle effect on the gene expression profile of the uninfected mice. By employing gene set enrichment analysis, we discovered significant up-regulation of the fatty acid metabolism pathway, which is regulated by peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs).
Conclusions
We hypothesize that the LPS-induced blunting of pro-inflammatory response in mouse is, in part, mediated by PPARs (α and γ).