Innate Immunity (Oct 2020)

Immunological pathways of macrophage response to infection

  • Zhixiong Zhou,
  • Guojing Gu,
  • Yichen Luo,
  • Wenjie Li,
  • Bowen Li,
  • Yu Zhao,
  • Juan Liu,
  • Xuehong Shuai,
  • Li Wu,
  • Jixuan Chen,
  • Cailiang Fan,
  • Qingzhou Huang,
  • Baoru Han,
  • Jianjun Wen,
  • Hanwei Jiao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/1753425920958179
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 26

Abstract

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As the molecular mechanisms of Brucella ovis pathogenicity are not completely clear, we have applied a transcriptome approach to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in RAW264.7 macrophage infected with B. ovis . The DEGs related to immune pathway were identified by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) functional enrichment analysis. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was performed to validate the transcriptome sequencing data. In total, we identified 337 up-regulated and 264 down-regulated DEGs in B. ovis -infected group versus mock group. Top 20 pathways were enriched by KEGG analysis and 20 GO by functional enrichment analysis in DEGs involved in the molecular function, cellular component, and biological process and so on, which revealed multiple immunological pathways in RAW264.7 macrophage cells in response to B. ovis infection, including inflammatory response, immune system process, immune response, cytokine activity, chemotaxis, chemokine-mediated signaling pathway, chemokine activity, and CCR chemokine receptor binding. qRT-PCR results showed Ccl2 (ENSMUST00000000193), Ccl2 (ENSMUST00000124479), Ccl3 (ENSMUST00000001008), Hmox1 (ENSMUST00000005548), Hmox1 (ENSMUST00000159631), Cxcl2 (ENSMUST00000075433), Cxcl2 (ENSMUST00000200681), Cxcl2 (ENSMUST00000200919), and Cxcl2 (ENSMUST00000202317). Our findings firstly elucidate the pathways involved in B. ovis -induced host immune response, which may lay the foundation for revealing the bacteria–host interaction and demonstrating the pathogenic mechanism of B. ovis .