I'm just curious to know if anyone has ever infected THP-1 cells with whole bacteria without differentiation? I know that monocyte THP-1 cells are very sensitive to LPS and so, if measuring gene expression, one would see huge inductions. Also infection can trigger differentiation so you may start off with monocytes but then produce a heterogeneous mix of mono and macro cells once infection takes hold.
If one is interested in foam cell development then it seems that PMA differentiation would be a necessary step as the activation of scavenger receptors are needed for oxLDL uptake. But if one is interested in cytokine expression or even lipid gene expression (HMGR, LDLR or APOE etc) then THP-1 cells as a monocyte phenotype would be just as meaningful, right?
Hi Alice, thank you for your answer. I tried infecting the THP-1 monocytes and got some interesting data. most of my inflammatory genes were upregulated as well as some of my lipid biosynthesis genes. It worked a treat! I really just wanted to observe the monocyte activity. In theory I should have ran a side by side experiments with differentiated THP-1 cells but I think there is plenty of data there to support these responses already. From what i have seen the monocyte is highly active during this first response to infection; with regards to gene regulation anyway. I am surprised because the bacteria I was using is seen as a commensal.
Thanks again for your answer and sorry for taking so long to respond.
best wishes!
I guess I thought the commensal would produce a milder response if any. I was thinking it's virulence factors would be less potent for some reason, given its harmony with the average host. But then in actual fact I suppose all bacteria are opportunistic pathogens, like you pointed out, they are all armed with the necessary factors. They just need the right environment.
Thanks again
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