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ShareFeb. 9, 2010 — Chemokines are a large group of proteins whose predominant function is to direct cell migration. They regulate many physiological and pathophysiological processes, in particular in the immune system.
Dirk Homann and colleagues, at University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, have now developed a simple method to efficiently identify all the chemokines produced by a single cell type, something that has not been possible before.
The method developed by Homann and colleagues is a flow cytometry-based assay that uses commercially available chemokine-specific antibodies to efficiently detect within cells 37 of 39 mouse chemokines. Using this technique, the author were able to delineate the complete chemokine profiles of two types of immune cell (NK cells and B cells) in response to major polyclonal stimuli and to assess the chemokine response of immune cells known as DCs to bacterial infection.
Importantly, the authors were able to adapt the method to analyze chemokine expression in human cells, leading them to suggest that this method will help researchers understand the roles of chemokines in health and disease.
The research appears in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Journal of Clinical Investigation, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
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Journal Reference:
- Jens Eberlein, Tom T. Nguyen, Francisco Victorino, Lucy Golden-Mason, Hugo R. Rosen, and Dirk Homann. Comprehensive assessment of chemokine expression profiles by flow cytometry. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2010; DOI: 10.1172/JCI40645
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
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