| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Procalcitonin (PCT) is a polypeptide with several cationic aminoacids in its chemical structure and it is a well known marker of sepsis. It is now emerging that PCT might exhibit some anti-inflammatory effects. The present study, based on the evaluation of the <it>in vitro</it> interaction between PCT and bacterial lipopolisaccharide (LPS), reports new data supporting the interesting and potentially useful anti-inflammatory activity of PCT.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>PCT significantly decreased (p < 0.05) the limulus amoebocyte lysate (LAL) assay reactivity of LPS from both <it>Salmonella typhimurium</it> (rough chemotype) and <it>Escherichia coli</it> (smooth chemotype). Subsequently, the <it>in vitro</it> effects of PCT on LPS-induced cytokine release were studied in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). When LPS was pre-incubated for 30 minutes with different concentrations of PCT, the release of interleukin-10 (IL-10) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) by PBMC decreased in a concentration-dependent manner after 24 hours for IL-10 and 4 hours for TNFα. The release of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) exhibited a drastic reduction at 4 hours for all the PCT concentrations assessed, whereas such decrease was concentration-dependent after 24 hours.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study provides the first evidence of the capability of PCT to directly neutralize bacterial LPS, thus leading to a reduction of its major inflammatory mediators.</p>
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