AUTHOR=Xu Ning , Liu Xiaolei , Tang Bin , Wang Libo , Shi Hai N. , Boireau Pascal , Liu Mingyuan , Bai Xue TITLE=Recombinant Trichinella pseudospiralis Serine Protease Inhibitors Alter Macrophage Polarization In Vitro JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2017 YEAR=2017 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01834 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2017.01834 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=During parasite infection, serine protease inhibitors secreted by parasites play important roles in suppressing host defenses. However, the mechanism of immune regulation is unclear. In this study, a serpin gene from Trichinella pseudospiralis, named Tp-Serpin, was cloned and expressed, in order to reveal its role in the regulation of the host immune response in T. pseudospiralis infection. The results showed that Tp-Serpin encodes a 43kDa protein that was recognized by serum from T. pseudospiralis infected mice at 60 days post infection (dpi). Tp-Serpin was found to be expressed at all developmental stages of T. pseudospiralis. Inhibitory activity analysis showed that recombinant Tp-Serpin (rTp-Serpin) effectively inhibited the hydrolytic activity of porcine pancreatic elastase (elastase P), human neutrophil elastase (elastase H) and mouse mast cell protease-1 (mMCP-1), but showed little inhibitory for human neutrophil cathepsin G (cathepsin G). Furthermore, rTp-Serpin induced polarization of macrophages towards the alternatively activated phenotype (M2) alone by activation of the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3(STAT3) signaling pathway, and inhibited LPS-induced classically activation (M1) in vitro. These data preliminarily demonstrate that Tp-Serpin may play an important role in the immunoregulation of T. pseudospiralis infection by activating the M2-polarized signaling pathway.