Published ahead of print on April 28, 2005, doi:10.1165/rcmb.2004-0347OC Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol., Volume 33, Number 2, August 2005, 178-185 A more recent version of this article appeared on August 1, 2005
Submitted on November 8, 2004 Expression and Regulation of CC Class Chemokines in the Dystrophic (mdx) DiaphragmAlexandre Demoule1,1 Meakins-Christie Laboratories, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 2 Meakins-Christie Laboratories, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Respiratory Division, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: basil.petrof{at}mcgill.ca.
In the murine (mdx) model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, dystrophic changes are much more severe in the diaphragm than in limb muscles, and the diaphragm more closely resembles the human disease phenotype. Chemokines could play a central role in governing such phenotypic differences, since inflammation is an important disease modifier. Here we report that CC chemokine receptors (CCRs 1, 2, 3, 5) and ligands (MIP-1
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
, RANTES) are expressed at higher levels in dystrophic than in wild-type (WT) muscles across age groups (6, 12, and 24 weeks). Moreover, chemokine ligand expression and muscle inflammation are significantly higher in dystrophic diaphragms than in limb muscles of the same animals. In vitro, CCR1 is constitutively expressed by cultured primary diaphragmatic myotubes. Stimulation of myotubes by proinflammatory cytokines (TNF
) found within the in vivo dystrophic muscle environment, upregulates CCR1 in mdx and WT cultures, and also increases expression of its ligand RANTES to a significantly greater degree in the mdx group. Taken together, our results suggest that CC chemokines may play an important role in sustaining inflammation within the mdx diaphragm, which could help acount for its more severe phenotype and also offer a target for therapeutic intervention in Duchenne patients.
