Exosomes (EXO) derived from tumour cells have been used to stimulate antitumour immune responses, but only resulting in prophylatic immunity. Tumour-derived heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) molecules are molecular chaperones with a broad repertoire of tumour antigen peptides capable of stimulating dendritic cell (DC) maturation and T-cell immune responses. To enhance EXO-based antitumour immunity,...

BACKGROUND The low uptake of tetanus vaccine and its resultant high burden of tetanus in Nigeria suggest the need to improve routine and booster vaccination in children and adolescents. However, epidemiological evidence for vaccination in the adolescent age group needed for effective strategy and policy formulation is lacking. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of protective...

PURPOSE The HER-2/neu protein is a nonmutated tumor antigen that is overexpressed in a variety of human malignancies, including breast and ovarian cancer. Many tumor antigens, such as MAGE and gp100, are self-proteins; therefore, effective vaccine strategies must circumvent tolerance. We hypothesized that immunizing patients with subdominant peptide epitopes derived from HER-2/neu, using an adj...

The HER-2/neu oncogenic protein is a well-defined tumor antigen. HER-2/neu is a shared antigen among multiple tumor types. Patients with HER-2/neu protein-overexpressing breast, ovarian, non-small cell lung, colon, and prostate cancers have been shown to have a pre-existent immune response to HER-2/neu. No matter what the tumor type, endogenous immunity to HER-2/neu detected in cancer patients ...

Seasonal epidemics of influenza virus result in ∼36,000 deaths annually in the United States. Current vaccines against influenza virus elicit an antibody response specific for the envelope glycoproteins. However, high mutation rates result in the emergence of new viral serotypes, which elude neutralization by preexisting antibodies. T lymphocytes have been reported to be capable of mediating he...

Host protection from invading pathogens involves cellular and humoral effectors and results from the concerted action of both non-adaptive (innate) and adaptive (acquired) immunity. The latter is based on specific immunological recognition mediated by clonally distributed receptors, is a recent acquisition of the immune system, and is present only in vertebrates. The former evolved well before ...

The intestinal mucosal immune system is challenged with bacteria, viruses, and parasites, in addition to food and environmental antigens, that require dynamic immune responsiveness for homeostasis. One central signaling pathway is JAK-STAT, which regulates the adaptive and innate immune arms of mucosal immunity as well as epithelial repair and regeneration. Adaptive immunity includes lymphocyte...

Migration of primed T-cells to the antigenic site is an essential event in the development of effective immunity. This process is tightly regulated in order to ensure efficient and specific responses. Most studies have focused on non-specific mediators of T-cell migration, including integrins and chemokines. However, recent studies have highlighted the key role of the T-cell receptor and co-sti...