Bioactive Lipids & PBMC

Data from the scientific literature support the hypothesis that bioactive lipids play an important role in inflammatory disorders. The levels of these bioactive lipids are altered in several pathophysiological conditions with an inflammatory component. The investigators and others have demonstrated that bioactive lipids affect the inflammatory tone in vivo in murine models as well as in in vitro models. However, confirming the translational value of these data is not easy in clinical studies. PBMC-based experiments are a powerful tool for us to validate our previous observations and will offer translational added value supporting further clinical investigations.

Thus, here the investigators aim at harvesting PBMC from healthy donors and use them to study the effect of the lipid mediators of interest (i.e. those showing interesting properties in our preclinical models). Blood will be collected from healthy volunteers, and PMBC isolated based on their density. After isolation from the blood, PBMC will be activated as largely reported in the literature (e.g. using phytohemagglutinin or lipopolysaccharides) in the presence or absence of the tested lipids. The effect will be assessed by quantifying the expression of inflammatory markers (by RT-qPCR and/or ELISA). The expression of the receptors and enzymes potentially regulating the effects of the studied lipids will be also assessed (by RT-qPCR).

Inclusion criteria

• Volunteers must be able to give informed consent to be included in the study.
• no chronic inflammatory disease
• no acute inflammation

Exclusion criteria

• Men and women aged less than 18 years
• Pregnant women
• Prior diagnosis of a chronic inflammatory disease (for instance IBD, COPD, lupus, MS, etc. This is not an exhaustive list).
• Recent (<21 days) episode of acute inflammation or immune-altering event (e.g. cold, flu, vaccine, …).
• Chronic or recent use of drugs interfering with the immune / inflammatory response. Examples include (and are not limited to) NSAIDs, corticosteroids, aspirin, mABs, etc.
• Unable to give informed consent