BACKGROUND BET proteins (BRD2, BRD3, BRDT and BRD4) belong to the family of bromodomain containing proteins, which form a class of transcriptional co-regulators. BET proteins bind to acetylated lysine residues in the histones of nucleosomal chromatin and function either as co-activators or co-repressors of gene expression. An imbalance between HAT and HDAC activities resulting in hyperacetylati...

The T-box transcription factor T-bet is expressed in a number of hematopoetic cell types and plays an essential role in the lineage determination of Th1 T-helper cells. In the absence of T-bet, CD4(+) T-cells fail to induce IFNgamma, the cytokine whose expression characterizes Th1 cells. Here we show that, surprisingly, T-bet induces the expression of endogenous IFNgamma in non-immune human cel...

Insect locomotion requires the precise coordination of the movement of all six legs. Detailed investigations have revealed that the movement of the legs is controlled by local dedicated neuronal networks, which interact to produce walking of the animal. The stick insect is well suited to experimental investigations aimed at understanding the mechanisms of insect locomotion. Beside the experimen...

The approach was to obtain measurements that permitted comparisons of temporal evolution of bottom stress, suspended particle size, and optical and acoustical properties in the bottom boundary layer. The instrumentation was mounted on bottom tripods and an I-beam frame. The "OASIS" tripod included a 9-wavelength optical attenuation and absorption meter (WetLabs ac-9, with automated dissolved me...

A new spatial-domain Blur Equalization Technique (BET) is presented. BET is based on Depth-from-Defocus (DFD) technique. It relies on equalizing the blur or defocus of two different images recorded with different camera parameters. Also, BET facilitates modeling of images locally by higher order polynomials with lower series truncation errors. The accuracy of BET is further enhanced by discardi...

Cell-mediated adaptive immunity is very important in tumor immune surveillance and tumor vaccination. However, the genetic program underlying an effective adaptive antitumor immunity is elusive. T-bet and Eomesodermin (Eomes) have been suggested to be master regulators of Th1 cells and CD8(+) T cells. However, whether they are important for T cell-mediated antitumor immunity is controversial. I...

As a conserved protein interaction module that recognizes and binds to acetylated lysine, bromodomain (BRD) contains a deep, largely hydrophobic acetyl lysine binding site. Proteins that share the feature of containing two BRDs and an extra-terminal domain belong to BET family, including BRD2, BRD3, BRD4 and BRDT. BET family proteins perform transcription regulatory function under normal condit...

Background Millions of patients with allergy to birch pollen develop clinically cross-reactive IgE against Bet v 1-like proteins in plant foods. Specific immunotherapy (SIT) with birch pollen extracts induces the biosynthesis of Bet v 1-specific immunoglobulin (Ig)G4. IgG4 is believed to act as a blocking antibody preventing IgE binding to Bet v 1, thus alleviating allergic symptoms. Only littl...

We previously observed T-bet(+) lymphocytes to be associated with a good prognosis in a cohort of women with familial breast cancer. To validate this finding, we evaluated lymphocyte T-bet expression in an independent unselected prospectively accrued series of women with lymph node-negative breast carcinoma. T-bet and clinicopathologic data were available for 614 women. Hormone receptors, HER2,...

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been attributed to overexuberant host immunity or the emergence of harmful intestinal flora. The transcription factor T-bet orchestrates inflammatory genetic programs in both adaptive and innate immunity. We describe a profound and unexpected function for T-bet in influencing the behavior of host inflammatory activity and commensal bacteria. T-bet deficiency...