Study on the expression of related factors during the pathogenesis of experimental autoimmune thyroiditis based on NF-κB pathway
QI Gang
ZHU Yan-mei
LI Yu-juan
LI Yan
LUO Shi-wen
LI Man
Abstract：Objective To investigate the expression of related factors during the pathogenesis of experimental autoimmune thyroiditis (EAT) based on NF-κB pathway. Methods EAT model was induced by immunizing CBA/j mice with purified mouse thyroglobulin (mTg) and Freund′s adjuvant. HE staining was used to detect the pathological changes. Serum TNF-α level was measured by ELISA assay. The mRNA expression of TNF-α, Bcl-2 and ICAM-1 in thyroid tissues was assessed by qPCR. The changes of NF-κB protein in thyroid tissues were detected by Western blotting. Immunohistochemistry was used for the IKK protein assessment in thyroid tissues. Results EAT model was successfully established. Compared with the thyroid tissue at baseline, significant infiltration of inflammatory cells was detected in the thyroid gland at the first week after primary immunization (P＜0.05), with increase of serum TNF-α and the expression of TNF-α mRNA, Bcl-2 mRNA, ICAM-1 mRNA, NF-κB and IKK in thyroid tissues, but there was no significant difference in them. There were significantly more infiltration of inflammatory cells in thyroid tissues of mice at the second week after the primary immunization than baseline thyroid inflammation score (P＜0.05), with increase of serum TNF-α, and TNF-α mRNA, Bcl-2 mRNA, ICAM-1 mRNA, NF-κB protein and IKK protein in the thyroid tissues. At the fourth week after the primary immunization, there was a significant inflammatory cell infiltration in the thyroid tissues than baseline (P＜0.05), with significant increase of serum TNF-α, and the mRNA expression levels of TNF-α, Bcl-2 and ICAM-1 and the NF-κB and IKK protein expression in thyroid tissues (P＜0.05). Conclusion During the course of EAT, the NF-κB pathway activated with the induction of immunization in time-dependent manner. The possible mechanism is that immune modeling promotes the immune response to Tg in mice, result in the increase of serum TNF-α and TNF-α mRNA in thyroid tissues. The positive feedback between the NF-κB pathway and TNF-α leads to sustained activation of NF-κB pathway, which ignites Bcl-2 and ICAM-1 gene expression and promotes inflammatory cell proliferation, infiltration into the thyroid tissue.
Keywords：protein purificationautoimmune thyroiditisNF-κB pathwaymechanism
Publication Date：2019-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 329-334 )