Molecular Immunology

The immune make-up of human tumors is dynamic over the course of cancer progression. However, what factors drive spatiotemporal changes in the tumor-immune landscape is not well-known. In issue 3 of Cell Reports Medicine, Liu, You, Lan and Ren et al. demonstrate that the development of tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) is a stepwise process that co-occurs with tumor progression in patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD).

OBJECTIVE: To study the therapeutic effect and mechanism of Shaoyao Gancao Decoction (SGD) on ulcerative colitis (UC) mice based on the perspective of intestinal barrier, and this study provides a new consultation for the clinical application of SGD. METHODS: The chemical composition of SGD was characterized by HPLC. The UC mouse model was constructed by 3 % dextran sodium sulfate (DSS), which were randomly divided into the model group (DSS), the positive drug group (5-ASA), the Shaoyao group (SYD), Gancao group (GCD), and the Shaoyao Gancao Decoction group (SGD) at low, medium, and high dosages, respectively...

BACKGROUND: The house-dust mite Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus is a key trigger of allergic asthma. Therefore, it is essential to develop new vaccines that can alter inflammatory processes and airway remodeling. The goal of this study was to test the hypoallergenic and immunogenic characteristics of the hypoallergen rDer p 2231 in a murine model of chronic asthma induced by D. pteronyssinus. METHODS: For this, we measured the levels of IgE, IgG1, IgG2a, and cytokines produced by mice receiving the rDer p 2231 protein...

Cordyceps militaris, an entomopathogenic fungus, has been traditionally used in East Asian medicine. Recent research indicates that the fruit bodies of C. militaris are rich in bioactive compounds, such as polysaccharides and nucleosides, which may offer health benefits. However, the specific components responsible for its immunostimulatory effects and the mechanisms involved remain unclear. This study explored the immunomodulatory activity of a fruit body extract from C. militaris, named Ryukyu-kaso (RK), and examined the effect of the β-glucan receptor Dectin-1 on bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs)...

Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID, encoded by Aicda) plays a key role in somatic hypermutation and class switch recombination in germinal center B cells. However, off-target effects of AID are implicated in human leukemia and lymphoma. A mouse model of precursor B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia driven by deletion of the related transcription factors PU.1 and Spi-B revealed C->T transition mutations compatible with being induced by AID. Therefore, we hypothesized that PU.1 negatively regulates Aicda during B cell development...

UNLABELLED: Aim of our study is to analyse the sensitisation profile to molecular components of latex and of food allergens with the use of ALEX2 Allergy Xplorer test and to compare these results with the anamnestical data after latex exposure and with the anamnestical data after exposure to food allergens in atopic dermatitis patients. METHODS: 100 patients were included in the study (49 men and 51 women with the average age 40.6 years). The specific IgE was examined with the use of ALEX2 Allergy Xplorer test...

Freshwater snails of the genus Bulinus are critical hosts for Schistosoma haematobium, the causative agent of urogenital schistosomiasis. Among the 37 recognized Bulinus species, B. truncatus is a key vector. Using RNA sequencing (RNAseq), we investigated the genome-wide transcriptional responses of B. truncatus to S. haematobium infection. Our findings suggest that snails employ a complex defense strategy against the parasites by up-regulating genes involved in immune response, stress reaction, structural integrity, metabolism, and detoxification...

BACKGROUND: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is involved in local tissue remodeling in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP). However, the function of Piezo1 in EMT process remains unclear. This study aimed to characterize potential roles of Piezo1 in EMT process in CRSwNP. METHODS: Overall, 22 nasal polyp (NP) tissues from patients with CRSwNP and 20 middle turbinate from healthy individuals were obtained during surgery. The expression of Piezo1, E-cadherin, vimentin, and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) was measured by using western blot (Wb) in NP tissues and primary human nasal epithelial cells (pHNECs) and the location and level were assessed by immunofluorescence staining...

The founding family member, Interleukin (IL)-17A, is commonly known as IL-17 and has garnered increasingly attention for proinflammatory functions in autoimmune disorders. Although the effects of IL-17A on hepatic important drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters (DMETs) expression still remain unclear, it is critical to ascertain owing to the well-established alterations of the drug disposition capacity of the liver occurring during immune imbalance. The present study was designed to explore the effects and mechanisms of IL-17A on DMETs mRNA and protein expression in HepaRG cells by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blot, respectively...

T-cell receptor gamma delta (TCRγδ) expressing T-cells are known to mediate an MHC-independent immune response and could therefore qualify for immune therapies. We examined the influence of dendritic cells(DC)/antigen presenting cell (APC) generated from blast-containing whole blood (WB) samples from AML and MDS patients on the provision of (leukemia-specific) TCRγδ expressing T-cells after mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC). Kit-M (granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) + prostaglandin E1 (PGE1)) or Kit-I (GM-CSF + Picibanil) were used to generate leukemia derived APC/DC (DCleu )from WB, which were subsequently used to stimulate T-cell enriched MLC...

Peptide-based anticancer vaccines have shown some efficacy in generating cancer-specific immune responses in various cancer studies, but clinical success is limited, one of the reasons is due to its prone degradation and weak immunogenicity. So some tumor epitope peptide vaccines often require coupling or forming fusion proteins with corresponding protein carriers to enhance their stability and immunogenicity. Given the scarcity of validated carriers for clinical trials, there is an urgent requirement for the development of novel protein carrier...

BACKGROUND: Avian species have played a pivotal role in developmental hematopoiesis research, leading to numerous critical discoveries. Avian influenza, particularly the H5N1 strain, poses a significant threat to poultry and has zoonotic potential for humans. Infections often result in abnormal hematologic profiles, highlighting the complex interplay between avian diseases and hematopoiesis. Many avian diseases can suppress immune cells in the bone marrow (BM), impacting immune responses...

Cortisol is a glucocorticoid hormone that has immunosuppressive function. Elevated basal cortisol levels are present in patients with some kinds of cancers, but its role in the microenvironment of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) remains unclear. This study analyzed the expression of genes involved in cortisol generation by using high-throughput sequencing data from TCGA portal and found HSD11B1 was significantly upregulated in patients with PAAD. The correlations between HSD11B1 level and the expression of 23 immunosuppressive receptors were analyzed by Spearman's correlation analysis...

The NSP14 protein of SARS-CoV-2 not only facilitates viral replication but also plays a pivotal role in activating the host immune system by enhancing cytokine production. In this study, we found that NSP14 markedly activated the activator protein 1 (AP-1) pathway by increasing the phosphorylation of ERK (p-ERK), which enters the nucleus and promotes AP-1 transcription. The screening of the main proteins of the ERK pathway revealed that NSP14 could interact with MEK, a kinase of ERK, and increase the level of phosphorylated MEK...

Immune checkpoint inhibitor-based cancer immunotherapy has shown promise as a potential treatment in the clinic. It has been reported that anti-PD-L1 combined with cisplatin treatment can improve the antitumor effect. However, the therapeutic outcome is limited due to the abundance of tumor stroma in pancreatic cancer (PC), which prevented the penetration of cisplatin and anti-PD-L1 into tumor regions, thus impeding the effectiveness in the treatment of PC. In this study, a nanocarrier-mediated codelivery system of hyaluronidase and cisplatin was constructed, which can degrade the stroma and promote cisplatin and anti-PD-L1 to penetrate the tumor stroma into the deep tumor, so as to suppress PC effectively...

The microenvironment within solid tumors often becomes acidic due to various factors associated with abnormal metabolism and cellular activities, including increased lactate production as a result of dysregulated tumor glycolysis. Recently, we have identified multiple tumor microenvironment (TME) factors that potentiate regulatory T (Treg ) cell function in evading anti-tumor immunosurveillance. Despite the strong correlation between lactate and acidity, the potential roles of acidity in intratumoral Treg cell adaptation and underlying molecular mechanisms have gone largely unstudied...

Colony stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) is an essential receptor for both colony stimulating factor 1 (CSF1) and interleukin (IL) 34 signaling expressed on monocyte precursors and myeloid cells, including monocytes, dendritic cells (DC), and microglia. In humans, dominant heterozygous pathogenic variants in CSF1R cause a neurological condition known as CSF1R-related disorder (CSF1R-RD), typically with late onset, previously referred to as adult-onset leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia (ALSP)...

PURPOSE: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) has been an increasingly significant contributor to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Understanding the progression from NASH to HCC is critical to early diagnosis and elucidating the underlying mechanisms. RESULTS: 5 significant prognostic genes related to NASH-HCC transformation were identified through algorithm selection, which were ME1, TP53I3, SOCS2, GADD45G and CYP7A1. A diagnostic model for NASH prediction was established (AUC=0...

Microglia play a major role in the immune defense system of the central nervous system and are activated in many neurological diseases. The immunomodulatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-15 is known to be involved in microglia response and inflammatory factors release. Neoprzewaquinone A (NEO) is an active compound isolated from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. Our previous study has shown that NEO significantly inhibit the proliferation of IL-15-treated Mo7e cells. However, the role of NEO in the structure and function of IL-15-treated human microglial cells (HMC3) remains unclear...

BACKGROUND: Cannabidiol (CBD), the major non-psychoactive component of cannabis, exhibits anti-inflammatory properties, but less is known about the immunomodulatory potential of CBD on activated natural killer (NK) cells and/or their targets. Many tumor cells present heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) on their cell surface in a tumor-specific manner and although a membrane Hsp70 (mHsp70) positive phenotype serves as a target for Hsp70-activated NK cells, a high mHsp70 expression is associated with tumor aggressiveness...