The aim of this study was to evaluate the immune system and lymphocyte function in 41 Iranian β-thalassemic patients and 50 controls, ages ranging from 2 to 18 years. The patients consisted of 20 splenectomized and 21 non-splenectomized patients. They were treated with Desferal, and had received repeated blood transfusion. Laboratory investigations included measurement of total T lymphocyt...

The tumor necrosis factor superfamily (TNFSF) and its corresponding receptor superfamily (TNFRSF) form communication pathways required for developmental, homeostatic, and stimulus-responsive processes in vivo. Although this receptor-ligand system operates between many different cell types and organ systems, many of these proteins play specific roles in immune system function. The TNFSF and TNFR...

conclusions this study suggests that the il-7 level of chb patients may be related to tfh cells. in chb patients, il-7 possibly increases the level of tfh cells and hbv-specific cellular immune responses and thereby reduces the hbv dna level. background in patients with chronic hepatitis b (chb), the relation of interkeukin-7 (il-7) to either the t follicular helper cells (tfh cells) or to a sp...

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease, and its pathogenesis involves a variety of genetic, environmental, and immunological factors such as T helper cells and their secreted cytokines. B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) is an immunoregulatory receptor that has a strong suppressive effect on T-cell function. However the role of BTLA in UC remains poorly understood. Here we d...

In this paper, we present a THz attenuator based on the sub-wavelength metal s tructures. The T Hz attenuator is designed and fabricated on a copper foil. We measured TH z transmission of the at tenuator by means of terahertz time domain spectroscopy. The experimental results s how th at the attenuator ca n h ave a good frequency selectivity which depends on the polarization of THz radiati on. ...

In a recent adoptive cell therapy (ACT) clinical trial using autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in patients with metastatic melanoma, we found an association between CD8+ T cells expressing the inhibitory receptor B- and T-lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) and clinical response. Here, we further characterized this CD8+BTLA+ TIL subset and their CD8+BTLA- counterparts. We found that the...

The B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) is an Ig super family member that binds to the herpes virus entry mediator (HVEM), a TNF receptor super family (TNFRSF) member. Engagement of BTLA by HVEM triggers inhibitory signals, although recent evidence indicates that BTLA also may act as an activating ligand for HVEM. In this study, we reveal a novel role for the BTLA-HVEM pathway in promoting the...

The function of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells, which may protect against both infectious and malignant diseases, can be impaired by ligation of their inhibitory receptors, which include CTL-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) and programmed cell death 1 (PD-1). Recently, B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) was identified as a novel inhibitory receptor with structural and functional similarities to C...

Unresponsiveness to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) has been shown to be associated with dysfunction of the presenting cells (APC) and defect in the specific B-lymphocyte and/or T-lymphocyte repertoires.   Direct determination of the frequency of specific T-lymphocytes together with complementary analysis of the naive circulating immune cells could provide valuable information about the cel...