Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a metabolic disease that is initiated by the autoimmune destruction of pancreatic insulin-producing beta cells that is accompanied by the development of antigen-specific antibodies and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Several studies have shown that vaccination with diabetic autoantigens provides some protection against this process. In this report we describe a new oral...

CD40-CD154 interactions are of central importance in the induction of humoral and cellular immune responses. In the present study, CD154-deficient (CD154-/-) mice were used to assess the role of CD40-CD154 interactions in regulating the immune response to a systemic Salmonella infection. Compared with C57BL/6 (CD154+/+) controls, CD154-/- mice were hypersusceptible to infection by an attenuated...

Dendritic cells (DCs) constitute the link between innate and adaptive immunity by directly recognizing pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) in bacteria and by presenting bacterial antigens to T cells. Recognition of PAMPs renders DCs as professional antigen-presenting cells able to prime naïve T cells and initiate adaptive immunity against bacteria. Therefore, interfering with DC func...

Cationic amino acid transporters (mCAT1 and mCAT2B) regulate the arginine availability in macrophages. How in the infected cell a pathogen can alter the arginine metabolism of the host remains to be understood. We reveal here a novel mechanism by which Salmonella exploit mCAT1 and mCAT2B to acquire host arginine towards its own intracellular growth within antigen presenting cells. We demonstrat...

Our laboratory has previously shown that after immunization with a strain of Salmonella typhimurium, SL3235, made avirulent by a blockage in the pathway of aromatic synthesis, murine splenocytes were profoundly suppressed in their capacity to mount an in vitro antibody plaque-forming cell (PFC) response to sheep erythrocytes. Evidence indicated that suppression was mediated by nitric oxide (NO)...