Objective: To investigate the effect of serum amyloid A1 (SAA1) on global gene expression in macrophages derived from THP-1 monocytes.
Materials and methods: Global genetic expression in THP-1-derived macrophages was determined using Illumina HT-12 microarray chips and the results were validated by real-time PCR. Cytokine levels in cellular supernatant were quantified by ELISA.
Results: In total, 55 genes were upregulated with fold difference greater than two when THP-1-derived macrophages were incubated with SAA1 for 8 h. SAA1 is a strong cytokine inducer with significant upregulation of chemokines CCL1, CCL3, and CCL4 and this was confirmed by both real-time PCR and ELISA quantification. SAA1 also promotes the upregulation of genes involved in phagocytosis, anti-apoptosis, and tissue remodeling.
Conclusions: SAA1 appears to play an important role during the immune response and in chronic inflammatory diseases through the stimulation of genes involved in cytokine production, phagocytosis, and anti-apoptosis.