The Immunomodulatory Effects of Albumin In Vitro and In Vivo

Figure 2

BSA increases TNF-α gene expression in murine peritoneal macrophages in a TLR-4-dependent manner. Primary peritoneal macrophages were isolated from C3H/HeJ (TLR-4 mutant) and C3H/HeOuJ (wild-type) and were treated with BSA for 24 h. As expected, LPS treatment (10 μg/mL) resulted in a significant difference in TNF-α induction between macrophages isolated from C3H/HeJ mice and their wild-type counterparts. BSA treatment resulted in a dose-dependent increase in TNF-α in macrophages isolated from C3H/HeOuJ mice, but not in macrophages isolated from C3H/HeJ mice. All experiments were performed in triplicate with 3 wells per condition.