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Updated: Apr 21, 2026

Visualizing Intracellular SNARE Trafficking by Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy
Published on: December 29, 2017
Cytokine Secretion in Macrophages: SNAREs, Rabs, and Membrane Trafficking
Rachael Zoe Murray1, Jennifer Lea Stow2
1Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology , Brisbane, QLD , Australia.
Abstract:
Macrophages have the capacity to rapidly secrete a wide range of inflammatory mediators that influence the development and extent of an inflammatory response. Newly synthesized and/or preformed stored cytokines and other inflammatory mediators are released upon stimulation, the timing, and volume of which is highly regulated. To finely tune this process, secretion is regulated at many levels; at the level of transcription and translation and post-translationally at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), Golgi, and at or near the cell surface. Here, we discuss recent advances in deciphering these cytokine pathways in macrophages, focusing on recent discoveries regarding the cellular machinery and mechanisms implicated in the synthesis, trafficking, and secretion of cytokines. The specific roles of trafficking machinery including chaperones, GTPases, cytoskeletal proteins, and SNARE membrane fusion proteins will be discussed.
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