Department of Molecular Bioscience, College of Biomedical Science, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 200-701, Korea.
Immune Netw. 2012 Jun;12(3):84-8. doi: 10.4110/in.2012.12.3.84. Epub 2012 Jun 30.
B cell-activating factor belonging to the TNF family (BAFF) is primarily expressed by macrophages and stimulates B cell proliferation, differentiation, survival, and Ig production. In this study, we explored the effect of lactoferrin (LF) on BAFF expression by murine macrophages. We determined the level of BAFF expression at the transcriptional and protein levels using RT-PCR and ELISA, respectively. LF markedly enhanced BAFF expression in mouse macrophages at both the transcriptional and protein levels. Overexpression of Smad3/4 further increased LF-induced BAFF transcription while DN-Smad3 abolished the LF-induced BAFF expression. These results demonstrate that LF can enhance BAFF expression through Smad3/4 pathway.
B 细胞激活因子属于 TNF 家族（BAFF）主要由巨噬细胞表达，并刺激 B 细胞增殖、分化、存活和 Ig 产生。在这项研究中，我们探讨了乳铁蛋白（LF）对鼠巨噬细胞中 BAFF 表达的影响。我们分别使用 RT-PCR 和 ELISA 来确定 BAFF 表达的转录和蛋白水平。LF 显著增强了小鼠巨噬细胞中 BAFF 的转录和蛋白水平表达。Smad3/4 的过表达进一步增加了 LF 诱导的 BAFF 转录，而 DN-Smad3 则消除了 LF 诱导的 BAFF 表达。这些结果表明，LF 可以通过 Smad3/4 通路增强 BAFF 的表达。
