Fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) plays an important role in maintaining glucose and lipid homeostasis. FABP4 has been primarily regarded as an adipocyte- and macrophage-specific protein, but recent studies suggest that it may be more widely expressed. We found strong FABP4 expression in the endothelial cells (ECs) of capillaries and small veins in several mouse and human tissues, including the heart and kidney. FABP4 was also detected in the ECs of mature human placental vessels and infantile hemangiomas, the most common tumor of infancy and ECs. In most of these cases, FABP4 was detected in both the nucleus and cytoplasm. FABP4 mRNA and protein levels were significantly induced in cultured ECs by VEGF-A and bFGF treatment. The effect of VEGF-A on FABP4 expression was inhibited by chemical inhibition or short-hairpin (sh) RNA-mediated knockdown of VEGF-receptor-2 (R2), whereas the VEGFR1 agonists, placental growth factors 1 and 2, had no effect on FABP4 expression. Knockdown of FABP4 in ECs significantly reduced proliferation both under baseline conditions and in response to VEGF and bFGF. Thus, FABP4 emerged as a novel target of the VEGF/VEGFR2 pathway and a positive regulator of cell proliferation in ECs.

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Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) is an effective treatment strategy for allergic diseases and has been used for more than 100 years. In recent years, however, the expectations on concepts, conduct, statistical evaluation, and reporting have developed significantly. Products have undergone dose-response and confirmative studies in adults and children to provide evidence for the optimal dosage, safety, and efficacy of AIT vaccines using subcutaneous and sublingual delivery pathways in large patient cohorts, ensuring solid conclusions to be drawn from them for the advantage of patients and societies alike. Those standards should be followed today, and products answering to them should be preferred over others lacking optimization and proof of efficacy and safety. Molecular and cellular mechanisms of AIT include early mast cell and basophil desensitization effects, regulation of T- and B-cell responses, regulation of IgE and IgG production, and inhibition of responses from eosinophils, mast cells, and basophils in the affected tissues. There were many developments to improve vaccination strategies, demonstration of new molecules involved in molecular mechanisms, and demonstration of new biomarkers for AIT during the last few years. The combination of probiotics, vitamins, and biological agents with AIT is highlighting current advances. Development of allergoids and recombinant and hypoallergenic vaccines to skew the immune response from IgE to IgG and regulation of dendritic cell, mast cell, basophil, innate lymphoid cell, T-cell, and B-cell responses to allergens are also discussed in detail.

Our study demonstrates that the CD14-C159T promoter variant influences total IgE levels and also indicates that the T allele has a more profound effect on total IgE in children with atopic asthma. Polymorphisms in the TLR4 gene may be associated with milder forms of disease in atopic asthmatics in the population studied.

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FABP4 is expressed in a significantly higher percentage of GBMs in comparison to both normal brain tissues and lower-grade glial tumours. FABP4 is expressed in some tumour ECs as well as non-ECs in glial tumours. As FABP4 promotes proliferation of ECs, detection of FABP4 in GBM-ECs, but not normal brain ECs suggests that FABP4 may play a role in the robust angiogenesis associated with GBMs.

Abstract. Obesity is a growing problem and is associated with numerous medical conditions. In several genes coding for molecules involved in the regulation of body weight (fat mass) and thermogenesis, polymorphisms have been reported which possibly modify human obesity risk. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of the following polymorphisms in the following genes in 262 obese (BMI≥30) and 138 control (BMI≤25) subjects: leptin receptor (LEPR)-Gln223Arg, B 3 -adrenergic receptor (B 3 -AR)-Trp64Arg, serotonin transporter (5-HTT)-a 44-base pair insertion/ deletion functional polymorphism in the 5-HTTLPR and insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1)-Gly972Arg. Our hypothesis was that these polymorphisms would occur more frequently in the obese population. The polymorphisms were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction genotyping in study population. In our results, no strong associations were observed between BMI status and these polymorphisms. Weak, though significant, association coefficients obtained with HTT and LEPR loci indicate that the genotype numbers at these loci may depend on BMI status to some extent.

Fatty acid-binding proteins (FABP) are small molecular mass intracellular lipid chaperones that are expressed in a tissue-specific manner with some overlaps. FABP4 and FABP5 share ~55 % amino acid sequence homology and demonstrate synergistic effects in regulation of metabolic and inflammatory responses in adipocytes and macrophages. Recent studies have shown that FABP4 and FABP5 are also co-expressed in a subset of endothelial cells (EC). FABP4, which has a primarily microvascular distribution, enhances angiogenic responses of ECs, including proliferation, migration, and survival. However, the vascular expression of FABP5 has not been well characterized, and the role of FABP5 in regulation of angiogenic responses in ECs has not been studied to date. Herein we report that while FABP4 and FABP5 are co-expressed in microvascular ECs in several tissues, FABP5 expression is also detected in ECs of larger blood vessels. In contrast to FABP4, EC-FABP5 levels are not induced by VEGF-A or bFGF. FABP5 deficiency leads to a profound impairment in EC proliferation and chemotactic migration. These effects are recapitulated in an ex vivo assay of angiogenesis, the aortic ring assay. Interestingly, in contrast to FABP4-deficient ECs, FABP5-deficient ECs are significantly more resistant to apoptotic cell death. The effect of FABP5 on EC proliferation and survival is mediated, only in part, by PPARδ-dependent pathways. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that EC-FABP5, similar to EC-FABP4, promotes angiogenic responses under certain conditions, but it can also exert opposing effects on EC survival as compared to EC-FABP4. Thus, the balance between FABP4 and FABP5 in ECs may be important in regulation of angiogenic versus quiescent phenotypes in blood vessels.