Mouse strain-specific differences in cytokine, chemokine, and growth factor expression revealed by multiplex immunoassay 3070

Description The use of different mouse strains in laboratory research enhances the ability to model human diseases, understand genetic influences, and explore biological processes. Cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors are critical mediators of immune system function in laboratory mice, making their study critical in many research applications. The ability to simultaneously measure these proteins in biological samples by multiplexed immunoassay provides an ideal tool to evaluate protein profiles across different mouse strains. Here we simultaneously measured the expression of 68 cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors in serum and plasma samples from four strains (CD1, Swiss-Webster, C57BL/6, and Balb/c) and identified proteins with baseline differences in apparently healthy mice. Further, we evaluated immune response in CD1 mice challenged with LPS over an eight-hour time course to characterize the induction of these 68 immune factors. Several analytes, including IL-6 and MCP-1, exhibited 100-fold average increases in concentration in response to in vivo LPS challenge. Induction patterns differed amongst analytes, with proteins such as IL-10 and GM-CSF peaking at the two-hour LPS-stimulation time point, while others reached maximal induction at later points. In summary, this mouse cytokine, chemokine, and growth factor multiplex kit identified differences in protein expression amongst four healthy mouse strains and characterized the immune response to LPS stimulation.