Fbp from other bacteria, FnBPA and FnBPB from Staphylococcus aureus and Sfb1 from S Staphylococcus pyogenes, are known to contain a common motif that bind to the N-terminal type I module of Fn (28, 29). Another Fbp, BBK32 from Borrelia burgdorferi, is reported to bind to III1–3 as well as to I1–5 of Fn (30, 31). BBK32, however, has the capacity to make an aggregation of Fn by virtue of binding to III1–3 of Fn. Unlike BBK32, neither FbpA nor FbpB from C. perfringens has such an Fn aggregating capacity (data not shown). It is selleck chemicals known that Fn aggregates when Fn is incubated with III1-C peptide (32). This means that Fn binds to III1-C peptide. In fact, in the present study, Fn reacted

with immobilized III1-C peptide. The binding of Fn to III1-C was inhibited by the presence of either rFbpA or rFbpB (Fig. 5). This result suggests that C. perfringens Fbps Crizotinib manufacturer may inhibit Fn-matrix formation in vivo. We thank Takahiro Hiraiwa, Tatsuma Tsuchiya and Masaya Okuda for generating the monoclonal

antibodies. We also thank Kana Harutsumi for technical support. “
“A balance of inhibitory and activating signals determines the function of dendritic cells (DCs) in the immune response, which may be regulatory or stimulatory. Defects of inhibitory receptor FcγRIIb are involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), in which high levels of circulating immune complexes (IC) exist. Our previous study showed that IC/Ig can suppress TLR4-triggered inflammatory Verteporfin manufacturer responses in macrophages via FcγRIIb. This led us to question whether IC/Ig can polarize FcγRIIb-overexpressing DCs (DC-FcγRIIb) to be tolerogenic, thus attenuating lupus progression once infused in vivo. First, we found that IC/Ig markedly inhibited LPS- or CpG-induced DC maturation, enhanced tolerogenicity of DCs via FcγRIIb, and induced massive prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) secretion from DCs, both contributing to T-cell hyporesponsiveness. Endogenous Ig and lupus-derived IC also exhibited the same effect.

DC-FcγRIIb, transfected with recombinant adenovirus encoding FcγRIIb, displayed enhanced tolerogenic function and produced more PGE2 in the presence of IC, thus further inhibiting T-cell responses. Importantly, in vivo infusion with DC-FcγRIIb significantly reduced kidney damage and prolonged the survival of lupus-prone MRL/lpr mice either before or after the onset of clinic lupus. Therefore, administration of DC-FcγRIIb may be a new approach to attenuate lupus progression. As a highly heterogeneous population, DCs not only play an important role in initiating and enhancing immune response but also contribute to the maintenance of tolerance via various mechanisms, including direct inhibition of T-cell response, induction of T-cell anergy or Treg and directing Th subset polarization 1–7.

The model is based on an extensive survey of the public literature and input from an independent scientific advisory board. It reproduces key disease features including activation and expansion of autoreactive lymphocytes in the pancreatic lymph nodes (PLNs), islet infiltration and β cell loss leading to hyperglycaemia. The model uses ordinary differential and algebraic equations to represent the pancreas and PLN as well as dynamic interactions of multiple cell types (e.g. dendritic cells, macrophages, CD4+ T lymphocytes, CD8+ T lymphocytes, regulatory T cells, β cells). The simulated features

of untreated pathogenesis and disease outcomes for multiple interventions compare favourably find more with published experimental data. Thus, a mathematical model reproducing type 1 diabetes pathophysiology in the NOD mouse, validated based on accurate reproduction of results from multiple

published interventions, is available for in silico hypothesis testing. Predictive biosimulation research evaluating therapeutic strategies and underlying biological mechanisms is intended to deprioritize hypotheses that LY2835219 mouse impact disease outcome weakly and focus experimental research on hypotheses likely to provide insight into the disease and its treatment. While many therapeutic strategies have prevented or cured type 1 diabetes successfully in animal models such as the non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse, all clinical trials to date have failed to do so in human subjects, suggesting that a more complex interpretation of the animal data may be warranted. In our previous evaluation of interventions attempting Glutathione peroxidase to modulate disease in the NOD mouse, we found several cases where disparate

responses had been observed following administration of a particular intervention [1]. Closer examination suggested that in some cases, dose, timing and treatment duration could theoretically account for discrepant efficacy observed within the NOD mouse model and/or between NOD versus human treatment results, underscoring their probable importance in identifying appropriate protocols for human clinical trials. We therefore maintain that an improved understanding of how protocol parameters impact treatment efficacy can be expected to improve fundamentally our interpretation of animal results and facilitate translational efforts. While theoretically desirable, it can be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming to optimize treatment protocols and fully explore treatment mechanisms of action in the laboratory. An alternative is to use physiologically based mathematical models to execute rapid, cost-efficient in silico analysis, resulting in testable predictions and recommendations for key corroborating experiments.

6A, upper right for schematic representation). As revealed by tracking of a statistically relevant number of cells per sample (between 30 and 90 cells were analyzed, representative examples are shown in Fig. 6A), both SEMA6A and SEMA3A affected T-cell motility. Selleckchem Volasertib For SEMA3A, this

did, however, not receive statistical relevance as compared to the IgG control (Fig. 6A, bottom right panel). The ability of exogenous SEMA3A, but not SEMA6A to cause reduction of allogeneic T-cell expansion in MLRs by approximately 30% has been reported earlier 34, and we thus reasoned that these compounds might interfere with IS efficiency at the level of conjugate formation. To analyze this directly, DC and allogeneic T cells were pre-labelled prior to co-cultures and the frequency

of conjugates formed in the presence of SEMA3A, -6A or IgG was determined by flow cytometry (Fig. 6B). Both SEMAs detectably reduced conjugate frequencies measured after 20 and 30 min (Fig. 6B, left panel, for 30 min shown in Fig. 6B, right panel) and this almost numerically matched with the data published on MLR inhbition by SEMA3A 34. As already evident from the migration experiment, SEMA6A more effiently interferred with conjugate formation, and this could not be compensated for by increasing SEMA3A doses (Fig. 6B, and not shown). Corroborating our hypothesis of SEMA3/6A directly interferring with T-cell activation at the IS level, pre-exposure to SEMAs, yet not to IgG (included as a control) largely abolished recruitment of CD3 to the interface (Fig. 6C). Though we repeatedly tried, we were unable to increase conjugate frequencies AP24534 concentration in MV-DC/T-cell co-cultures by neutralization of SEMA3A, and this is most likely due to the presence of the MV gp complex in the interface previously shown to largely account for IS destabilization in these cultures 10. Altogether, these findings support the interpretation that of SEMA receptor ligation by SEMA3A and -6A affect motility and, at Thymidine kinase IS level, activation of T cells and thus, modulations in kinetic and levels of their expression or subcellular redistribution of

their receptors by MV infection would be expected to contribute to immunosuppression. Measles pathogenesis is marked by the paradoxon of a coincident efficient virus-specific immune activation and generalized immunosuppression. The latter is characterized in vivo by lymphopenia and cytokine imbalance reflected by an early switch to a Th2-dominated response, while ex vivo, a failure of PBMCs to expand in response to mitogenic stimulation is observed (recently reviewed in 42). The frequency of infected PBMCs is, however low, indicating that indirect mechanisms, such as soluble mediators (which have not been revealed), or contact-mediated signalling causing inappropriate propagation of activation signals may account for the observation.

Heligmosomoides polygyrus antigens variably activated NF-κB

of MLN cells of uninfected and infected mice. The growing activity of p50 was observed after infection, and additionally, complete antigen and F9 enhanced p50 activity in the cytoplasm and nucleus; p50 as a homodimer is a repressor of κB site transcription in the cytoplasm [41], but it also participates in target gene transactivation by forming heterodimers with p65 [42]. In our studies, the level of NF-κB subunits, for example, p50 and p65 both in the cytoplasm and nuclei were distinct, and elevated activity of p50 was observed both in the cytoplasm and nuclei. After infection and after restimulation with H. polygyrus antigen fractions, expression AZD9291 manufacturer of p65 in cytoplasm rather decreased. As heterodimer p50/p65 translocated, increasing

activity of p50 was observed in nucleus both after infection and also when cells were treated with the nematode antigens. F9 like F17 up-regulated p50 and F17 strongly reduced activation of p65 in nucleus. Activation of NF-κB is essential for both cell proliferation and resistance of cells to apoptosis [43]. Infection with filarial parasites transitorily activated the factor with degradation of the cytoplasmic inhibitor protein IκΒ, and ES-62, a molecule secreted by filarial nematodes selectively blocks signal transduction events including NF-κB activation [44, 45]. The mechanism by which the parasite triggers and regulates activation of NF-κB is unspecified [46] and more detailed studies with recognition of receptor pathway induction with separate molecules Ku0059436 of H. polygyrus antigens might be promising. Selectively enhanced p50 activity and antiapoptotic activity of antigen fractions support an observation that cells might be hyporesponsive. DEX-induced apoptosis also requires protein synthesis

[47]. Heligmosomoides polygyrus-originated factors may inhibit apoptosis inducing enzymatic pathway, which depends on glucocorticoid Avelestat (AZD9668) receptor or that regulates the activity of NF-κB [48] and are potent to restore activation of protein kinase pathways and support survival of the cells. Our study identified H. polygyrus antigen factors with potential activity for regulation of surviving T-cell populations. These fractions can simultaneously target c-FLIP, Bcl-2 expression and increase p50 activity in mice infected with the parasite. Heligmosomoides polygyrus antigens contain many different proteins, which may have distinct activity in apoptosis. The content of protein fractions was compared with H. polygyrus-secreted proteins [13]. As we used somatic homogenate of adult stages, identified proteins were representative for cytoskeleton and metabolic pathways. There were also proteins which are specific for each fraction. The differences between F9, F13 and F17 fractions are their distinct antiapoptotic activity to different cell populations and also with distinct activation of NF-κB subunits.

303).

Both inactive and active patients with SLE had a significantly lower level of sRAGE than the HC (P = 0.003, P = 0.012, respectively, Fig. 1B). To explore the possible effects of different treatment on plasma sRAGE levels, we compared plasma sRAGE levels between SLE patients with and without treatment. The results showed that untreated and treated patients with SLE had comparable sRAGE levels (865.0 ± 81.5 pg/ml versus 833.8 ± 63.1 pg/ml P = 0.782), which was significantly lower than those in HC (P = 0.035, P = 0.004, respectively, Fig. 2A). Furthermore, plasma sRAGE in patients receiving monotherapy of corticosteroids (n = 33), therapy of corticosteroids BVD-523 mw combined with antimalarials (n = 11) or therapy of corticosteroid RG7204 mouse combined with immunosuppressors (n = 31) were 880.4 ± 87.3, 611.5 ± 130.2,

and 863.0 ± 111.5 pg/ml, respectively, which were comparable with those in untreated patients (P > 0.05 for all, Fig. 2B). Interestingly, we compared plasma sRAGE levels in five patients before and after antilupus treatment for 5 days and found that sRAGE was decreased significantly after treatment (P = 0.023, Fig. 2C). Notably, when the duration of the treatment was concerned, we observed that plasma sRAGE in SLE patients with short-period treatment (<1 month, n = 31), was further decreased (570.8 ± 71.8 pg/ml) in comparison with those of untreated patients with SLE (P = 0.023). In contrast, sRAGE levels (1019.1 ± 85.0 pg/ml) in patients with long-period treatment (>1 month, n = 44) was higher than those with short-period treatment (P = 0.000). In addition, the sRAGE levels Rapamycin mouse in patients with long-period treatment were comparable with those

in HC (P = 0.305, Fig. 2D). To investigate the association between plasma sRAGE and clinical features such as rash, arthritis, vasculitis, myositis, serositis and renal or haematological disorders, sRAGE levels in SLE patients with and without corresponding clinical features were compared. We observed that the level of plasma sRAGE in SLE patients with rash was significantly higher than that in patients without rash (973.4 ± 91.0 pg/ml versus 759.0 ± 57.2 pg/ml, P = 0.039, Fig. 3A). In addition, the level of plasma sRAGE in patients with serositis was significantly higher than that in the patients without serositis (1201.9 ± 209.1 pg/ml versus 804.9 ± 50.3 pg/ml, P = 0.02, Fig. 3B). Association between sRAGE and other clinical features was not observed. To explore the possible relationship between plasma sRAGE and renal function, estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR) was calculated according to the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation. Then, we evaluated the correlation of eGFR and plasma sRAGE levels in patients with lupus nephritis and found that plasma sRAGE was not correlated with eGFR (r = 0.02, P = 0.882). In addition, patients with lower eGFR level (<90 ml/min per 1.

IMD/ADM2 was overexpressed in NRK-52E cells using the vector pcDNA3.1-IMD. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were used to measure the concentration of IMD/ADM2 in the culture medium, and real-time PCR and Western blotting were used to determine mRNA and protein levels. In addition, luciferase reporter assays and electrophoretic mobility-shift assays were performed to measure cyclin D1 promoter activity and transcription factor activity. We found that IMD/ADM2 gene transfer markedly promoted cell viability and decreased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity and cell apoptosis compared check details with that of H/R. IMD/ADM2 increased the phosphorylation of ERK and decreased the phosphorylation of JNK and P38. Furthermore,

IMD/ADM2 promoted cell cycle progression with concomitant increases in the levels of cyclin D1 and cyclin E, and these effects were blocked by the inhibition of ERK, or the agonist JNK and P38. IMD/ADM2 also increased cyclin D1 promoter activity and AP-1 DNA-binding activity. We demonstrated that IMD/ADM2 promotes renal cell proliferation and regeneration after renal H/R injury by upregulating cyclin D1 and that this upregulation seems to be mediated by the ERK, JNK, and P38 Selleck Fulvestrant MAPK signalling pathways. “
“Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) are remarkably more prone

than others to renal dysfunction. The kidneys, as one of the systemic long-term hazards in SCD, may be affected by both the haemodynamic changes of chronic anaemia as well as by the consequences of vaso-occlusion. The aim of this study was to evaluate the proximal tubular function in a group of Saudi children with established SCD. This study was conducted in Al-Khafji Joint Operations (KJO) Hospital, in Saudi Arabia during the period from June 2011 to August Thymidine kinase 2012.

Thirty-four children: Group I (18 males and 16 females) with SCD (HBSS) and 27 children: Group II (17 males and 10 females) with sickle cell trait (HBAS) were evaluated for urinary excretion of retinol binding protein (RBP) and – Beta 2 microglobulin (β2 MG). Group I patients showed a significantly impaired urinary concentrating ability compared to that of Group II (417 ± 94 mOsm/kg vs 581 ± 165 mOsm/kg). The urinary excretions of RBP and β2-microglobulin were significantly higher in Group I than in Group II. The values were 762.01 ± 124.20 μg/L and 841.84 ± 389.02 μg/L versus 198.12 ± 42.24 μg/L and 298.3 ± 38.11 μg/L, respectively. Significant proximal tubular dysfunction was a feature in the SCD group, indicated by high urinary RBP and β2-microglobulin excretion. Assessing the urinary excretion of these low molecular weight proteins in children with sickle cell disease at different points of diagnosis may add key clinical information to the follow up of renal tubular function in patients with SCD. “
“Brunei Darussalam is a small South East Asian country with a high prevalence and incidence of end stage kidney disease (ESRD).

Further studies also reported the existence of IgM– cells in CD27+CD43lo–int subpopulations, with one report noting that IgD– cells were more prevalent with increasing age [29, 31]. Further analysis of IgM+ cells within the CD27+CD43lo–int subpopulation showed there to be a proportion of IgMhi cells (data see more not shown). As high expression of surface IgM is one of the discriminatory criteria for murine B1 cells [3], we re-ran our previous immunophenotyping analysis to distinguish between

IgMhigh and IgMlo CD20+CD27+CD43lo–int cells. We found a ninefold higher proportion of CD5+ cells within the IgMhigh subset compared to their IgMlow counterparts, which might indicate a closer phenotypic approximation to the ‘B1 cell’ population described previously [12] (data not shown). check details Nevertheless, discrepancies in the CD20+CD27+CD43+ cell immunophenotype we reported raised the need for a functional study which would match with our FACS results and reconfirm the functional B1 status of these putative B1 cells. The percentage and immunophenotype differences

found in the CD20+CD27+CD43lo–int cell subpopulation in CVID patients compared to healthy controls appeared not to be specific for this B cell subpopulation, but rather reflected a more general immune dysregulation in CVID. This could, potentially, be due to a lack of analysis using absolute counts of cells rather than percentages, which provides a much more accurate measure of difference [34]. We acknowledge this as a limitation of our study. A significantly increased percentage of CD21lo B cells within isometheptene the CD20+CD27+CD43lo–int subset in CVID patients compared to controls was observed. Although CD21lo B cells are known to have some innate-like features similar to murine B1 cells [14], our analysis showed that the proportion of CD21lo cells in the CD20+CD27+CD43lo–int was not

significantly different when compared with the proportion of CD21lo cells found in the CD20+CD27+CD43– cell subpopulation of the same patients. In addition, there was an observed lack of correlation with existing EUROclass classifications on CD21lo B cells; it is therefore likely that B1 cells and CD21lo innate-like B cells are not the same population. Further work investigating CVID and putative B1 B cells should focus on the functional aspects of B1 B cells, as any potential functional abnormalities have yet to be elucidated. In conclusion, our study showed that it is possible to use a rapid whole blood flow cytometric method to identify and analyse putative human B1 B cells. We demonstrated that CD20+CD27+CD43lo–int cells most probably represent a distinct subset within CD27+ B cells.

Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne; 2Department of Clinical Immunology, St. Vincent’s Hospital, LDK378 Melbourne; 3University of Melbourne Department of Medicine, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia Background: Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) is an important cause of ESKD and of recurrent disease after transplant. Current therapy achieves remission in only half of patients. Recent interest has focused on the potential role of galactose in binding and inactivating the putated circulating permeability factor (CPF), supported by in vitro and clinical case report studies. Orally active and without major side-effects, a phase II clinical trial is currently underway.

We describe our experience of galactose therapy in two patients with recurrent post-transplant FSGS. Case Reports: A female, Selleckchem HIF inhibitor aged 51, diagnosed with FSGS in 2002 progressed to ESKD in 2009 after a treatment refractory relapse in 2005. With biopsy-confirmed recurrence of FSGS six months post-transplant in 2009, refractory to plasma

exchange, IVIg, and rituximab, galactose therapy was commenced in late 2012. This resulted in a marked decline in urinary ACR (191 mg/mmol to 29.6 mg/mmol), improved serum albumin (25 g/L to 30 g/L), and sustained stabilisation of declining GFR for the last eighteen months. The second patient, a 34 year-old female diagnosed with FSGS at age 15, progressed to ESKD in three years. Two transplants in 2000 and 2011 were both complicated by treatment refractory disease within 12 months. Galactose started in 2012 was associated with decline in urinary ACR (490 mg/mmol to 40.4 mg/mmol) over six months, but serum albumin remained ≤ 11 g/L. Kaposi’s sarcoma of duodenum/jejunum was subsequently diagnosed Megestrol Acetate in early 2013, necessitating cessation of immunosuppression and graft removal. Conclusions: Galactose therapy for refractory FSGS was associated with marked symptomatic improvement and stabilisation of graft function in one case, the other complicated by a concurrent disease process. In both, galactose therapy was associated with a clear reduction in proteinuria. 268 AUDIT OF INCIDENCE OF CYTOMEGALOVIRUS (CMV)

AND BK VIRAEMIA IN THE RENAL TRANSPLANT COHORT AT ROYAL HOBART HOSPITAL G Kirkland, S Mcfadyen, J Ling, W Johnson Royal Hobart Hospital, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia Aim: To measure incidence of CMV and BK viraemia and contributing factors in the renal transplant cohort at Royal Hobart Hospital. Background: We are developing a protocol for CMV and BK screening and the tapering of immunosuppression in the post-transplant phase. Increased numbers of CMV and BK viraemia in 2013 prompted a closer look for contributing factors in our current management. Methods: Renal transplant recipients from 1 January 2010 to 1 March 2014 were examined. CMV and BK PCR and viral load measurements were obtained. Digital medical records yielded data on immunosuppression and risk factors for infection.

Yerkes and Dodson (1908) noted that the efficacy of learning in rats varies with level of arousal, such that low and high arousal predicted poorer learning than a medium level of arousal. Berlyne (1960) proposed that curiosity modulates the likelihood of learning, with low and high curiosity leading to poorer learning outcomes than a medium level of curiosity. Kinney and Kagan (1976) proposed that infants have a tendency to attend maximally to stimuli of moderate complexity (or discrepancy with respect to a family of stimuli) compared to

overly simple or overly complex stimuli. The key difference between signaling pathway these past observations is that the proposed mediating mechanism (arousal, curiosity, discrepancy) was not defined quantitatively and was not assessed independently of the measure of attention itself. That

is, stimuli were chosen based on intuitions about how they related to the mediating mechanism, and when a U-shaped function was obtained, the mediating mechanism was interpreted as verified. In contrast, Kidd et al. (2012) quantitatively defined information complexity before presenting the stimulus sequences and eliminated the effects of Trichostatin A mouse a variety of other potential mediators of the obtained U-shaped function. The results of Kidd et al. (2012) raise a variety of unanswered questions. First, what enables infants (and monkeys) to implicitly notice that they are failing to “understand” the complex events and why are they choosing to terminate these fixation? One possibility is that learners are evaluating the choice between “making progress” in understanding a sequence of events and failing to see any benefit in attempting to learn something that is more complex compared to reallocating attention to something

that is not yet known but may be simpler to learn. That is, attention is selective and can be allocated to multiple sources of information. Learners may have, by prior experience, learned that if a sequence of events is not “mastered” within some period of time, they are likely to find other sources that can be more effectively “mined” for information and are more readily accessible. However, a limitation of the Kidd et al. work is that allocation of attention was not linked to the efficacy of learning. It is possible that the “sweet spot” of the Goldilocks function is where information is best learned, but it is also possible that learning occurs best on the rising portion of the function where information is slightly more complex. There are hints in a recent study by Tummeltshammer and Kirkham (2013) that learning is in fact facilitated when an intermediate level of predictability is present. A third limitation of the Goldilocks results is that so far they only apply to sequential events and only to stimuli that are not “special” in some way. The choice of sequential events was driven by the goal of quantitatively characterizing the information complexity of the stimuli (i.e.

Authors declare no conflict of interest. H.S researched the data, performed the experiments, analysed and wrote the manuscript. Å.L recruited the patients, researched the data, reviewed and edited the manuscript. F.V-S researched the data, reviewed and edited the manuscript. “
“The transmission of scabies occurs with the burrowing of Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis mites into the skin. Infestation invariably Rucaparib order leads

to the development of localized cutaneous inflammation, pruritis and skin lesions. Classical transmission studies document an initial increase in S. scabiei numbers subsequent to primary infestation with a gradual reduction as host immunity develops. However, certain individuals fail to Trametinib research buy control infection and develop severe crusting of the skin, accompanied with extremely high mite burdens, elevated antibody levels and eosinophilia. These individuals have the nonhealing form of the human disease known as crusted scabies. The genetic predisposition for susceptibility or resistance to S. scabiei infection in humans is hypothesized to correlate with the dominance of an IgE-driven Th2 response in severe disease or

an interferon-γ-dominated Th1 response that promotes parasite control. However, recent data reveals complexities in cytokine regulation in the skin and the mechanisms of acquired resistance and immune escape. In this review, we consider the recent immunological and biomolecular advances

in understanding the human host immune response to S. scabiei infestations in the context of earlier studies and attempt to reconcile apparent differences and emphasize those aspects of the Th1/Th2 model that are supported or refined. Human responses to parasitic infections have often been difficult to define as either Th1 or Th2, as characteristics from both response types are often reported (1). However, there is accumulating evidence that the host immune response GBA3 to crusted scabies resembles a nonprotective Th2 allergic response, and ordinary scabies resembles a Th1 cell-mediated protective response (2–5). Th1-biased immune reactions are dominated by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells secreting IFN-γ and IL-2 (6). Th2-biased T cells (secreting net IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13) are dominant effector cells in the pathogenesis of IgE-mediated hypersensitivity including attracting, activating and prolonging the survival of nonspecific effector cells. The Th1/Th2 concept has also been extended to T-regulatory populations expressing IL-10 and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β).