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Gimbrone, Michael

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Gimbrone

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Michael

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Gimbrone, Michael

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    An atherogenic diet rapidly induces VCAM-1, a cytokine-regulatable mononuclear leukocyte adhesion molecule, in rabbit aortic endothelium
    (Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health), 1993) Li, H.; Cybulsky, M. I.; Gimbrone, Michael; Libby, Peter
    Accumulation of monocyte-derived foam cells in focal areas of the arterial intima is a key step in early atherogenesis. We investigated the expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), a mononuclear leukocyte adhesion molecule, in the arterial endothelium during the early phases of diet-induced atherogenesis in rabbits in vivo and the regulation of VCAM-1 expression by cytokines in rabbit aortic organoid cultures in vitro. Rabbits were fed either an atherogenic diet (containing 0.3% cholesterol, 9% coconut oil, and 1% corn oil) or an isocaloric control diet (10% corn oil) for 4 days or 1, 3, 6, or 13 weeks. The endothelium in the ascending aorta focally expressed VCAM-1 after only 1 week on the atherogenic diet but before the first appearance of intimal macrophages, as judged by immunohistochemical staining of serial sections. The rabbits that consumed the atherogenic diet for 3 weeks or longer developed lesions in the intima composed of macrophages bearing class II major histocompatibility antigen (MHC-II). Endothelial cells continued to focally express VCAM-1 at sites of MHC-II-positive intimal macrophages for up to 13 weeks. The ascending aortas of control rabbits lacked VCAM-1 or MHC-II-positive endothelium or macrophages at all times studied. These observations demonstrate the focal activation of arterial endothelium as early as 7 days after initiation of an atherogenic diet (at serum cholesterol levels of 308 +/- 57 mg/dl). In organoid cultures of rabbit thoracic aortas, Gram-negative bacterial lipopolysaccharide or the cytokines interleukin (IL)-lcx, tumor necrosis factor-**, and IL-4, as well as interferon gamma, induced VCAM-1 expression in the endothelium. Our results suggest that the activation of cytokine-inducible endothelial functions, such as expression of VCAM-1, may participate in the initiation of diet-induced atherosclerosis in rabbits.
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    Nitric oxide decreases cytokine-induced endothelial activation. Nitric oxide selectively reduces endothelial expression of adhesion molecules and proinflammatory cytokines
    (American Society for Clinical Investigation, 1995) De Caterina, R; Libby, Peter; Peng, H B; Thannickal, V J; Rajavashisth, T B; Gimbrone, Michael; Shin, W S; Liao, J K
    To test the hypothesis that nitric oxide (NO) limits endothelial activation, we treated cytokine-stimulated human saphenous vein endothelial cells with several NO donors and assessed their effects on the inducible expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1). In a concentration-dependent manner, NO inhibited interleukin (IL)-1 alpha-stimulated VCAM-1 expression by 35-55% as determined by cell surface enzyme immunoassays and flow cytometry. This inhibition was paralleled by reduced monocyte adhesion to endothelial monolayers in nonstatic assays, was unaffected by cGMP analogues, and was quantitatively similar after stimulation by either IL-1 alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-4, tumor necrosis factor (TNF alpha), or bacterial lipopolysaccharide. NO also decreased the endothelial expression of other leukocyte adhesion molecules (E-selectin and to a lesser extent, intercellular adhesion molecule-1) and secretable cytokines (IL-6 and IL-8). Inhibition of endogenous NO production by L-N-monomethyl-arginine also induced the expression of VCAM-1, but did not augment cytokine-induced VCAM-1 expression. Nuclear run-on assays, transfection studies using various VCAM-1 promoter reporter gene constructs, and electrophoretic mobility shift assays indicated that NO represses VCAM-1 gene transcription, in part, by inhibiting NF-kappa B. We propose that NO's ability to limit endothelial activation and inhibit monocyte adhesion may contribute to some of its antiatherogenic and antiinflammatory properties within the vessel wall.
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    The Omega-3 Fatty Acid Docosahexaenoate Reduces Cytokine-Induced Expression of Proatherogenic and Proinflammatory Proteins in Human Endothelial Cells
    (American Heart Association, 1994) De Caterina, Raffaele; Cybulsky, Myron I.; Clinton, Steven K.; Gimbrone, Michael; Libby, Peter
    The mechanisms by which dietary fatty acids can modulate atherogenesis and inflammation are poorly understood. Induction in endothelial cells of adhesion molecules for circulating leukocytes and of inflammatory mediators by cytokines probably contributes to the early phases of atherogenesis and inflammation. We report here that incorporation into cellular lipids of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a specific fatty acid of the omega 3 family, decreases cytokine-induced expression of endothelial leukocyte adhesion molecules, secretion of inflammatory mediators, and leukocyte adhesion to cultured endothelial cells. DHA, but not eicosapentaenoic acid, decreased in a dose- and time-dependent fashion the expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) induced by interleukin (IL)-1, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), IL-4, or bacterial lipopolysaccharide, with half-maximum inhibition at < 10 mumol/L. This reduction required prolonged (24- to 96-hour) exposure of endothelial cells to DHA and correlated with the degree of DHA incorporation into cellular lipids. DHA also limited cytokine-stimulated endothelial cell expression of E-selectin and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 and the secretion of IL-6 and IL-8 into the medium but not the surface expression of constitutive surface molecules. Cyclooxygenase inhibition did not block the effect of DHA on VCAM-1. In parallel with reduced surface VCAM-1 protein expression, DHA reduced VCAM-1 mRNA induction by IL-1 or TNF. DHA treatment also reduced the adhesion of human monocytes and of monocytic U937 cells to cytokine-stimulated endothelial cells. These properties of DHA may contribute to antiatherogenic and anti-inflammatory effects of omega 3 fatty acids.
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    Improving the Statistical Detection of Regulated Genes from Microarray Data Using Intensity-Based Variance Estimation
    (BioMed Central, 2004) Comander, Jason; Natarajan, Sripriya; Gimbrone, Michael; García-Cardeña, Guillermo
    Background: Gene microarray technology provides the ability to study the regulation of thousands of genes simultaneously, but its potential is limited without an estimate of the statistical significance of the observed changes in gene expression. Due to the large number of genes being tested and the comparatively small number of array replicates (e.g., N = 3), standard statistical methods such as the Student's t-test fail to produce reliable results. Two other statistical approaches commonly used to improve significance estimates are a penalized t-test and a Z-test using intensity-dependent variance estimates. Results: The performance of these approaches is compared using a dataset of 23 replicates, and a new implementation of the Z-test is introduced that pools together variance estimates of genes with similar minimum intensity. Significance estimates based on 3 replicate arrays are calculated using each statistical technique, and their accuracy is evaluated by comparing them to a reliable estimate based on the remaining 20 replicates. The reproducibility of each test statistic is evaluated by applying it to multiple, independent sets of 3 replicate arrays. Two implementations of a Z-test using intensity-dependent variance produce more reproducible results than two implementations of a penalized t-test. Furthermore, the minimum intensity-based Z-statistic demonstrates higher accuracy and higher or equal precision than all other statistical techniques tested. Conclusion: An intensity-based variance estimation technique provides one simple, effective approach that can improve p-value estimates for differentially regulated genes derived from replicated microarray datasets. Implementations of the Z-test algorithms are available at http://vessels.bwh.harvard.edu/software/papers/bmcg2004.