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Abdulnour, Raja-Elie

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Abdulnour

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Raja-Elie

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Abdulnour, Raja-Elie

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    Silencing Nociceptor Neurons Reduces Allergic Airway Inflammation
    (Elsevier BV, 2015) Talbot, Sebastien; Abdulnour, Raja-Elie; Burkett, Patrick; Lee, Seungkyu; Cronin, Shane J.F.; Pascal, Maud A.; Laedermann, Cedric; Foster, Simmie; Tran, Johnathan V.; Lai, Nicole; Chiu, Isaac; Ghasemlou, Nader; DiBiase, Matthew; Roberson, David; Von Hehn, Christian; Agac, Busranour; Haworth, Oliver; Seki, Hiroyuki; Penninger, Josef M.; Kuchroo, Vijay; Bean, Bruce; Levy, Bruce; Woolf, Clifford
    Lung nociceptors initiate cough and bronchoconstriction. To elucidate if these fibers also contribute to allergic airway inflammation we stimulated lung nociceptors with capsaicin and observed increased neuropeptide release and immune cell infiltration. In contrast, ablating Nav1.8+ sensory neurons or silencing them with QX-314, a charged sodium channel inhibitor that enters via large pore ion channels to specifically block nociceptors, substantially reduced ovalbumin or house dust mite-induced airway inflammation and bronchial hyperresponsiveness. We also discovered that IL-5, a cytokine produced by activated immune cells, acts directly on nociceptors to induce release of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). VIP then stimulates CD4+ and resident innate lymphoid type 2 cells, creating an inflammatory signaling loop that promotes allergic inflammation. Our results indicate that nociceptors amplify pathological adaptive immune responses and that silencing these neurons with QX-314 interrupts this neuro-immune interplay, revealing a potential new therapeutic strategy for asthma.
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    Protective Role of Rho Guanosine Diphosphate Dissociation Inhibitor, Ly-GDI, in Pulmonary Alveolitis
    (Public Library of Science, 2015) Yan, Chunguang; Wang, Ximo; Liu, Yanlan; Abdulnour, Raja-Elie; Wu, Min; Gao, Hongwei
    Growing evidences indicate that Ly-GDI, an inhibitory protein of Rho GTPases, plays an essential role in regulating actin cytoskeletal alteration which is indispensible for the process such as phagocytosis. However, the role of Ly-GDI in inflammation remains largely unknown. In the current study, we found that Ly-GDI expression was significantly decreased in the IgG immune complex-injured lungs. To determine if Ly-GDI might regulate the lung inflammatory response, we constructed adenovirus vectors that could mediate ectopic expression of Ly-GDI (Adeno-Ly-GDI). In vivo mouse lung expression of Ly-GDI resulted in a significant attenuation of IgG immune complex-induced lung injury, which was due to the decreased pulmonary permeability and lung inflammatory cells, especially neutrophil accumulation. Upon IgG immune complex deposition, mice with Ly-GDI over-expression in the lungs produced significant less inflammatory mediators (TNF-α, IL-6, MCP-1, and MIP-1α) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid when compared control mice receiving airway injection of Adeno-GFP. Mechanically, IgG immune complex-induced NF-κB activity was markedly suppressed by Ly-GDI in both alveolar macrophages and lungs as measured by luciferase assay and electrophoretic mobility shift assay. These findings suggest that Ly-GDI is a critical regulator of inflammatory injury after deposition of IgG immune complexes and that it negatively regulates the lung NF-κB activity.