title: RAGE controls leukocyte adhesion in preterm and term infants.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Insufficient leukocyte recruitment may be one reason for the high incidence of life-threatening infections in preterm infants. Since the receptor of advanced glycation end products (RAGE) is a known leukocyte adhesion molecule and highly expressed during early development, we asked whether RAGE plays a role for leukocyte recruitment in preterm and term infants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Leukocyte adhesion was analyzed in dynamic flow chamber experiments using isolated leukocytes of cord blood from extremely premature (<30 weeks of gestation), moderately premature (30-35 weeks of gestation) and mature neonates (>35 weeks of gestation) and compared to the results of adults. For fluorescent microscopy leukocytes were labeled with rhodamine 6G. In the respective age groups we also measured the plasma concentration of soluble RAGE (sRAGE) by ELISA and Mac-1 and LFA-1 expression on neutrophils by flow cytometry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The adhesive functions of fetal leukocytes significantly increase with gestational age. In all age groups, leukocyte adhesion was crucially dependent on RAGE. In particular, RAGE was equally effective to mediate leukocyte adhesion when compared to ICAM-1. The plasma levels of sRAGE were high in extremely premature infants and decreased with increasing gestational age. In contrast, expression of β2-Integrins Mac-1 and LFA-1 which are known ligands for RAGE and ICAM-1 did not change during fetal development.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that RAGE is a crucial leukocyte adhesion molecule in both preterm and term infants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, University Hospital, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany. Kirsten.Buschmann@med.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Buschmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, University Hospital, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany. Tschada@stud.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Raphaela
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tschada
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, University Hospital, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany. marie-sophie.metzger@gmx.de.
authors.forename: Marie-Sophie
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Metzger
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, University Hospital, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany. Natascha.Braach@gmx.de.
authors.forename: Natascha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Braach
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, University Hospital, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany. Navina.Kuss@med.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Navina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kuss
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, University Hospital, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany. Hannes.Hudalla@med.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Hannes
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hudalla
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, University Hospital, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany. Johannes.Poeschl@med.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Poeschl
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, University Hospital, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany. David.Frommhold@med.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Frommhold
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D062071:Infant, Extremely Premature / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D016169:Lymphocyte Function-Associated Antigen-1 / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D016177:Macrophage-1 Antigen / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D000067759:Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: C573420:ICAM1 protein, human; D016169:Lymphocyte Function-Associated Antigen-1; D016177:Macrophage-1 Antigen; D000067759:Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1