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Abstract: Immune responses in the central nervous system (CNS) are carefully regulated. Despite the absence of most immune processes and a substantive blood brain barrier, potent immune responses form during infection and autoimmunity. Astrocytes are innate immune sentinels that ensheath parenchymal blood vessels and sit at the gateway to the CNS parenchyma. Viral and bacterial infections trigger the influx of distinct leukocyte subsets. We show that astrocytes alone are sufficient for distinguishing between these two main types of infection and triggers release of relevant chemokines that relate to the microbe recognised. Bacterial-associated molecules induced the preferential expression of CCL2, CXCL1, CCL20 and CCL3 whilst a virus-associated dsRNA analogue preferentially up-regulated CXCL10 and CCL5. Thus, astrocytes can respond to infection in a distinct and appropriate manner suggesting they have the capacity to attract appropriate sets of leukocytes into the brain parenchyma. Astrocytes themselves are unable to respond to these chemokines since they were devoid of most chemokine receptors but expressed CXCR4, CXCR7 and CXCR6 at rest. Stimulation with TGF-β specifically up-regulated CXCR6 expression and may explain how TGF-β/CXCL16-expressing gliomas are so effective at attracting astroglial cells. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We present the first report utilizing, and showing the functional relevance of, self-assembling polyvalent ligands specific for integrin α5β1 in murine embryonic stem (mES) cell adhesion. Di, tri and tetrameric 9th–10th type III fibronectin domains (FIII9′10) were used to generate clustered integrin α5β1 ligand surfaces for mES cell culture. Compared to gelatin, FIII9′10 (monomer), FIII9′10-trimer and -tetramer, the FIII9′10-dimer supported the highest number of mES cell colonies. No evidence of domain unfolding upon surface adsorption was found. Colonies appeared disperse with a spread cell morphology unless subdued back to a tight morphology with increasing concentrations of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). In the presence of LIF, mES cells adherent to the FIII9′10-dimer showed transient upregulation of Oct-4, the mesodermal transcription factor, Brachyury, and the ectodermal marker, Nestin. However, dual upregulation of Nanog maintained the mES cells in a pluripotent state, confirmed by alkaline phosphatase staining. Therefore, the behavior of mES cells adherent to dimeric integrin α5β1 ligands is a largely morphological phenomenon conferring pro-differentiation signals towards mesodermal and ectodermal lineages. This work will be of interest to cell and tissue engineering groups aiming to control ES cell behavior through integrin ligand presentation and synthetic substrates. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]