Expression of CXCL15 (Lungkine) in Murine Gastrointestinal, Urogenital, and Endocrine Organs

Julia M. Schmitz ¹, Vance J. McCracken ¹, Reed A. Dimmitt ¹ and Robin G. Lorenz ^1*

¹ Departments of Microbiology (JMS,RAD,RGL) and Pathology (RGL) and the Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics (RAD), University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, and Department of Biological Sciences, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, Illinois (VJM)

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rlorenz{at}uab.edu.

Submitted on October 19, 2006
Accepted on 11 January 2007

	Abstract

The ELR⁺ chemokine CXCL15, which recruits neutrophils during pulmonary inflammation, is also known as lungkine due to its reported exclusive expression in the lung. We now report that CXCL15 mRNA and protein is also expressed in other mucosal and endocrine organs, including the gastrointestinal and urogenital tracts and the adrenal gland. Our results indicate that CXCL15 is expressed throughout the gastrointestinal tract, with the exception of the cecum. Gastric CXCL15 protein expression is approximately ten-fold lower than pulmonary expression, and primarily occurs in a specific lineage of gastric epithelial cells, the pre-zymogenic and zymogenic cell. Similar to the increased expression of CXCL15 during pulmonary inflammation, gastric inflammation induced by infection with Helicobacter felis caused an increase in gastric CXCL15 expression. However, colonic CXCL15 expression was not altered in two different models of colonic inflammation, the Helicobacter hepaticus T-cell transfer model and the mdr1a^-/- model of colitis. These findings clearly demonstrate that CXCL15, previously reported to be the only lung-specific chemokine, is also highly expressed in other murine mucosal and endocrine organs. The functional role of CXCL15 in mucosal disease remains to be elucidated. This manuscript contains online supplemental material at http://www.jhc.org. Please visit this article online to view these materials.

Key Words: Helicobacter, gastrointestinal, CXCL15, lungkine, gastritis, chemokine, immunohistochemistry, stomach, intestine

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