INTRODUCTION Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic autoimmune disease, and the precise pathogenesis is largely unknown at present. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) with immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory potential and Th17/Treg cells with a reciprocal relationship regulated by BMSCs have been reported to be involved in some autoimmune disorders. Here we studied the bio...

BACKGROUND Activation of innate immunity via pathogen recognition receptors (PRR) modulates adaptive immune responses. PRR ligands are being exploited as vaccine adjuvants and as therapeutics, but their utility in diagnostics has not been explored. Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) release assays (IGRAs) are functional T cell assays used to diagnose latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI); however, novel a...

Toll-like receptors are sensing modulators of the innate immune system. One member of this protein family, Toll-like receptor (TLR)-9, is increasingly being investigated as therapeutic target for infectious diseases and cancer. Double-Stem Loop ImmunoModulator (dSLIM) is a new TLR-9 agonist in clinical development for patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma. Compared with other TLR-9 liga...

IVIG is frequently used in the 'pre-conditioning' regimens for higher risk transplants; its effects are attributed in part to induction of Tregs. We have identified regulatory T cell (Treg) epitopes, now known as Tregitopes, in IgG, the main component of intravenous immunoglobulin therapy (IVIg). Tregitopes provide one explanation for the expansion and activation of Treg cells following IVIg tr...

The immune microenvironment is considered a major obstacle to generating an effective antitumor immune response. Checkpoint inhibitors manipulate the co-stimulatory response between antigen-presenting cells and immune cells-or between the tumor and immune cells-to elicit an antitumor immune response that would have otherwise been suppressed. Checkpoint inhibitors have shown great promise in the...

Besides atherosclerosis and lung cancer, smoking is considered to play a major role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. It has long been known that there is a connection between rheumatoid factor-positive rheumatoid arthritis and cigarette smoking. Recently, an important gene–environment interaction has been revealed; that is, carrying specific HLA-DRB1 alleles encoding the shared epito...

studies have demonstrated that plant extracts possess various biological characteristics, including immunomodulatory activity. heracleum persicum desf. (apiaceae), a medicinal plant native to iran, was studied for its immunomodulatory activity. immunomodulatory activity of different doses of an aqueous extract of h. persicum, was evaluated in female swiss albino mice. mice were treated with thr...

objective(s):experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (eae) is an autoimmune disease validated as animal model of multiple sclerosis (ms). administration of genistein, a phytoestrogenic component of soy, to mice at the onset of eae is known to attenuate the clinical signs of the disease. the potential effects of genistein on established eae is less studied. in the current study, we aimed to comp...

The availability of immunotoxicity data for fungal toxins varies considerably for different toxins. The following is a comprehensive review of the most recent literature on the immunotoxicity of aflatoxins, fumonisins, gliotoxin, ochratoxins, patulin, and trichothecenes. Aflatoxin is an immunomodulating agent that acts primarily on cell-mediated immunity and phagocytic cell function. In additio...