BACKGROUND The immunosuppressive drug rapamycin (RAPA) promotes the expansion of CD4(+) CD25(high)Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells via mechanisms that remain unknown. Here, we studied expansion, IL-2R-gamma chain signaling, survival pathways and resistance to apoptosis in human Treg responding to RAPA. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS CD4(+)CD25(+) and CD4(+)CD25(neg) T cells were isolated from PBMC...

RATIONALE Mutations in desmosome proteins cause arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (AC), a disease characterized by excess myocardial fibroadipocytes. Cellular origin(s) of fibroadipocytes in AC is unknown. OBJECTIVE To identify the cellular origin of adipocytes in AC. METHODS AND RESULTS Human and mouse cardiac cells were depleted from myocytes and flow sorted to isolate cells expressing platel...

Previous studies, mainly using a first-person perspective (1PP), have shown that the judgments of the hand laterality judgment (HLJ) task are dependent on biomechanical constraints (BC). Specifically, differing reaction times (RT) for hand pictures rotated medially or laterally around the mid sagittal plane are attributed to the BC effect on motor imagery. In contrast, we investigated whether t...

Long-lasting expansion of Vdelta2(neg) gammadelta T cells is a hallmark of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in kidney transplant recipients. The ligands of these cells and their role remain elusive. To better understand their immune function, we generated gammadelta T cell clones from several transplanted patients. Numerous patient Vdelta1(+), Vdelta3(+), and Vdelta5(+) gammadelta T cell clones ...

Normal children have a less collapsible upper airway in response to subatmospheric pressure administration (P(NEG)) during sleep than normal adults do, and this upper airway response appears to be modulated by the central ventilatory drive. Children have a greater ventilatory drive than adults. We, therefore, hypothesized that children have increased neuromotor activation of their pharyngeal ai...

The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate if osteoclasts (OCs) and dendritic cells (DCs), both of monocyte origin, can support the survival of normal human plasma cells (PCs). PCs differentiate from plasmablasts (PBs) arising from activated B cells, essentially memory B cells. To study the survival of both PBs (CD20(low)CD38(high)CD138(neg)) and PCs (CD20(neg)CD38(bright)CD138(bright)), we...

The African green monkey (AGM) model system for simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV(agm)) has been used to examine why prolonged infection with the relevant virus does not result in the development of immunodeficiency in its natural host. Blood lymphocyte subset values were determined in uninfected (n=88) and naturally SIV(agm)-infected AGMs (n=74). A number of blood cell subsets, such as CD8alp...