The Migration of Human Follicular Dendritic Cell-Like Cell Is Facilitated by Matrix Metalloproteinase 3 Expression That Is Mediated through TNFα-ERK1/2-AP1 Signaling

Figure 1

Human follicular dendritic cell-like cells (FDCLCs) in germinal centers (GCs) express MMP3. (a) Microarray gene expression profiling analysis comparing nontreated control and TNFα-treated FDCLCs. (b) Luminex protein secretion profiles of the same samples. (c) Microarray and Luminex results for TNFα-stimulated FDCLCs. FDCLCs were isolated from resected human tonsil tissues (i.e., from routine tonsillectomies). The isolated cells were treated with 20 ng/mL of TNFα for 18 h, and mRNAs and culture supernatants were harvested. Microarray results revealed that TNFα exposure increased the expression of MMP1, MMP12, and MMP3, whereas Luminex results indicated that TNFα induced the secretion of both MMP3 and MMP9. (d) Schematic depiction of the microarray and Luminex results. Both the mRNA expression and protein secretion of MMP3 were increased. (e) Immunohistochemical staining of MMP3 in human tonsillar sections. Brown color shows MMP3 expression, and blue color indicates stained nucleus (hematoxylin). The boundary between the germinal center (GC) and the marginal zone (MZ) is indicated by a yellow dotted line. (f) MMP3 mRNA expression in human FDCLCs and GC-B cells. mRNAs were isolated from the TNFα-treated cells, and quantitative PCR was then performed. Mmp3 was found to be markedly induced by TNFα in all of the examined primary FDCLCs, but not in the GC-B cells. (g) MMP3 secretion of FDCLCs. FDCLCs were treated with 20 ng/mL of TNFα for 48 h. MMP3 in the culture supernatant was quantified by ELISA. MMP3 secretion from FDCLCs was markedly induced by exposure of these cells to TNFα.

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