星形膠質細胞是腦中數量最多的細胞，被認為對腦中的神經細胞起著重要的營養和支撐作用。腦中有細菌感染時，小膠質細胞可以發揮類似於巨噬細胞的作用，遷移到感染區域並殺滅入侵的細菌。但腦中數量最多的星形膠質細胞在發揮營養和支撐作用的同時，是否在抵抗細菌入侵方面起到第一道防線的作用，以及相關的機制還不太清楚。
營養科學研究所夏宇蕾在翟琦巍研究員指導下研究發現星形膠質細胞本身具有抗菌作用，並且這種作用可以被白細胞介素1β等顯著增強。進一步的研究表明，白細胞介素1β是通過激活NF-κB促進抗菌因子釋放到細胞外而發揮作用的。該研究結果揭示了星形膠質細胞具有可以被炎症因子所調控的抗菌作用，對於深入了解星形膠質細胞的生物學功能具有重要意義。該研究結果近日在膠質細胞的專業雜誌Glia上在線發表(DOI: 10.1002/glia.20921)。
該研究項目獲得了基金委、科技部、中科院以及上海生科院等的資助。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Glia DOI:10.1002/glia.20921
IL-1β enhances the antibacterial activity of astrocytes by activation of NF-κB
Yulei Xia, Qiwei Zhai *
Key Laboratory of Nutrition and Metabolism, Institute for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
Astrocytes have important immune functions in CNS, and astrocytes stimulated by interferon- were showed to have direct antimicrobial function. However whether astrocytes without the stimulation of cytokines have antibacterial function, and how this function is regulated are still largely unknown. In this study, we found that primary cultured astrocytes inhibited the growth of both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Further more, we showed that interleukin-1β (IL-1β) enhanced the antibacterial effect in a dose-dependent manner, and the antibacterial effect of astrocytes from IL-1β receptor-deficient mice failed to be enhanced by IL-1β. IL-1β stimulated IB degradation, NF-κB nuclear translocation, and transactivation in astrocytes. NF-κB inhibitors blocked NF-B activation and the enhanced antibacterial effect induced by IL-1β. In addition, overexpression of dominant negative IB in astrocytes inhibited IB degradation and NF-B transactivation, and also inhibited the enhanced antibacterial effect induced by IL-1β. All these data demonstrated that IL-1β enhanced the antibacterial activity of astrocytes by activation of NF-κB.