The DU-induced shift of

Th cells (towards Th2) may lead to increased susceptibility to autoimmune disease, cancer, and infectious diseases. The mechanism for Th1/Th2 imbalance was complex, and the transcription factors (GATA3, STAT1, STAT4, STAT6, T-bet, c-Maf, and so on) might play a relevant role in this process. Further study is necessary to elucidate the mechanism of DU exposure on Th1/Th2 balance. In addition, our results suggest that the immune system is one of the systems most sensitive to damage induced by chronic uranium poisoning. Therefore, selleck chemical the present study indicates that in-depth investigations examining the immune function of the population that is chronically exposed to uranium should be performed, mTOR inhibitor which may lead to the discovery of valuable biomarkers. The authors declare no conflict of interest. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Fund of China (no. 30970678) and State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, Institute of Combined Injury, China (no. SKLZZ200809). We thank Ying Wan as well as members of Institute of Immunology, Third Military Medical University for technical assistance and helpful discussion in some aspects of these studies. “
“Vitamin A (retinol) and its derivatives

control diverse cellular processes by modulating gene transcription through the activation of the so-called retinoid receptors. These receptors belong to the superfamily Fossariinae of steroid/thyroid hormones nuclear receptors and are subclassified into RAR (retinoic acid receptors) and RXR (retinoid X receptors) (Krinsky and Johnson, 2005). Furthermore, retinol also exerts an important function in the maintenance of the cellular redox homeostasis, protecting biomolecules from

oxidative damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced from endogenous metabolism or xenobiotic compounds (Halliwell and Gutteridge, 2007). Recently, retinol and some derivatives, such as retinoic acid, have been also demonstrated to promote the activation of signaling pathways and modulation of transcription factors by mechanisms not related to the RAR/RXR-mediated gene transcription (Masia et al., 2007). Among the processes triggered by a non-genomic fashion by retinoids are included the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) (Canon et al., 2004), phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3 K) and Akt (Canon et al., 2004 and Masia et al., 2007), Src non-receptor tyrosine kinase (Gelain et al., 2006), and modulation of protein kinase C (PKC) activity (Miloso et al., 2004). Due to its ability to scavenge free radicals and related species, retinol was considered an important antioxidant component of diet.