In situ hybridization and immunofluorescence were used to study the expression of a lymphocyte pore-forming protein (perforin) in the uterus of pregnant mice. Cells expressing perforin mRNA were detected as early as gestation day 5, whereas perforin protein was detected one or two days later. Although the number of cells expressing both perforin mRNA and perforin protein varied subsequently wit...

Perforin mediates target cell apoptosis by CTLs and NK cells. Although perforin expression correlates strongly with acute allograft rejection, perforin-deficient mice reject allografts with the same kinetics as wild-type recipients. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that while perforin is dispensable for acute rejection, it is essential for down-regulating the alloimmune response by induc...

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer cells destroy target cells via the polarized exocytosis of lytic effector proteins, perforin and granzymes, into the immunologic synapse. How these molecules enter target cells is not fully understood. It is debated whether granzymes enter via perforin pores formed at the plasma membrane or whether perforin and granzymes are first endocytosed and granz...

Influenza virus infection activates cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTL) that contribute to viral clearance by releasing perforin and granzymes from cytoplasmic granules. Virus-specific, perforin-dependent CD8(+) CTL were detected in freshly isolated cells from the mouse lung parenchyma but not from the mediastinal lymph nodes (MLN), where they are primed, or from the spleen during primary influenza v...

Perforin is known to display a membranolytic activity on tumor cells. Nevertheless, perforin release during natural killer (NK)-cell activation is not sufficient to induce membrane target-cell damage. On the basis of the ability of perforin to interact with phospholipids containing a choline phosphate headgroup, we identify the platelet-activating factor (PAF) and its membrane receptor as cruci...

We recently showed that class I-restricted CD8+ T cells mediate clearance of primary rotavirus infection in mice: JHD knockout (JHD -/-) (B-cell-deficient) mice depleted of CD8+ T cells become chronically infected with murine rotavirus, and beta2 microglobulin knockout (beta2m -/-) mice have delayed but complete clearance of primary rotavirus infection. In the present work we have analyzed the ...

Aims: Lactate acid functions as not only an energy source but a signaling molecule through the lactate receptor GPR81 under physiological conditions. However, pathological role of lactic in tumor microenvironment remains unclear, particularly for immune cells.
 Methodology: NK-92 cells were treated with L-lactic solutions at final concentrations 10, 20, 30, and 40 mM, its cell viability cy...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Perforin is one of the major effector molecules of cytotoxic cells associated with killing of cells harbouring intracellular bacterial infection. The precise role of perforin positive cells in tuberculosis still remains controversial. The present study was done to determine the number of circulating CD4(+) and CD8(+) perforin positive cells to assess the level of cytotox...

Perforin is a glycoprotein responsible for pore formation in cell membranes of target cells. Perforin is able to polymerize and form a channel in target cell membrane. Many research groups focus on the role of perforin in various diseases, immune response to bacterial and viral infections, immune surveillance and immunopathology. In addition, perforin is involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmu...