Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have attracted interest for their cytotherapeutic potential, partly due to their immunomodulatory abilities. The aim of this study was to test the robustness of our equine cord blood (CB) MSC isolation protocol, to characterize the CB-MSC before and after cryopreservation, and to evaluate their immunosuppressive phenotype. We hypothesized that MSC can...

A large-scale vaccination experiment involving a total of 138 cattle was carried out to evaluate the potential of synthetic peptides as vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease. Four types of peptides representing sequences of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) C3 Argentina 85 were tested: A, which includes the G-H loop of capsid protein VP1 (site A); AT, in which a T-cell epitope has been adde...

Noise has long been realized as an environmental stress causing physiological, psychological and behavioral changes in humans. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of acute or chronic noise stress on both cellular and humoral immune responses and oxidative status. BALB/c mice were exposed to 90 dB (A) white noise 5 h per day for either 3 d or 4 wk. Hormone levels, splenic ly...

Natural immunity to malaria is characterized by low level CD4 T cell reactivity detected by either lymphoproliferation or IFN-gamma secretion. Here we show a doubling in the detection rate of responders to the carboxyl terminus of circumsporozoite protein (CS) of Plasmodium falciparum by employing three T cell assays simultaneously: rapid IFN-gamma secretion (ex vivo ELISPOT), IFN-gamma secreti...

Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is a frequently fatal lymphoproliferative disease syndrome primarily of ruminant species, caused by gammaherpesviruses in the genus Macavirus. Ovine herpesvirus 2 (OvHV-2), carried by sheep, causes sheep-associated MCF worldwide, while Alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 (AlHV-1), carried by wildebeest, causes wildebeest-associated MCF, mainly in Africa. Diseases in rabbit...

BACKGROUND Overall therapeutic outcomes of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are poor. The dendritic cell (DC) immunotherapy has been developed as a new strategy for the treatment of lung cancer. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, safety and immunologic responses in use in mature, antigen-pulsed autologous DC vaccine in NSCLC patients. METHODS Five HLA-A2 pat...

BACKGROUND & AIMS Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has demonstrated efficacy as an immune modulator and anti-inflammatory compound in mouse and pig models of colitis. We investigated the immunoregulatory efficacy of CLA in patients with mild to moderate Crohn's disease (CD). METHODS Thirteen patients with mild to moderately active CD were enrolled in an open-label study of CLA (6 g/d orally) fo...

Posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) is a major complication of current clinical transplantation regimens. The lack of a reproducible large-animal model of PTLD has limited progress in understanding the pathogenesis of and in developing therapy for this clinically important disease. This study found a high incidence of PTLD in miniature swine undergoing allogeneic hematopoieti...

Congenital hypoplastic anemia (Diamond-Blackfan syndrome) is thought to involve the erythropoietic cell line alone. In this study, the evaluation of lymphocyte function in five patients with this syndrome revealed a number of abnormalities. Peripheral blood T lymphocyte percentages as assessed by monoclonal antibodies were decreased in three patients. T-helper/T-suppressor cell (OKT4:OKT8) rati...

Induction of T cell help is critical in HIV-1 control and potentially in prevention by immunization. A practical approach is needed to identify HIV-1-specific helper activities in vivo. We explored the feasibility of measuring delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) following intradermal injection of recombinant soluble HIV-1(MN) glycoprotein 120 in HIV-1-infected, vaccinated, and exposed individua...