Osteoclasts are bone-resorbing cells that are derived from haemopoietic precursors, including cells present in peripheral blood. The recent identification of RANKL [receptor activator of nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB ligand], a new member of the tumour necrosis factor ligand superfamily that has a key role in osteoclastogenesis, has allowed the in vitro generation of osteoclasts in the absence of ...

Normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and leukaemic cell lines (three of human and one of gibbon origin) were found to contain similar levels of calmodulin (CaM) when expressed relative to the total cell protein. Two of the cell lines examined further were found to contain much higher amounts of CaM per cell (up to 5-fold) than PBMC but this was readily explained by their much ...

Current laboratory lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cell activation procedures require culture of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in the presence of 1000-1500 units/ml of interleukin 2 (IL-2) for 3-7 days. However, we have observed that a brief exposure (15 min-1 h) of PBMC to a high concentration of IL-2 results in the maturation of LAK precursor cells to cytolytic effector cells ov...

Erythrocytes are typically present as impurities in the majority of peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) preparations. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of contaminating red blood cells (RBC) on the ability of OKT3 to activate CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells. Surprisingly, the levels of gamma interferon, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) produced b...

IL-10 is a well-known immunosuppressive and/or anti-inflammatory cytokine. However, we report in vitro experimental studies in which IL-10 primed leukocytes and led to an enhanced production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) upon further stimulation by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Monocytes and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) prepared from whole blood maintained for 20 h at 37 degrees C in ...

Introduction: The innate immune response is the first mechanism of protection against Trypanosoma cruzi, and the interaction of inflammatory cells with parasite molecules may activate this response and modulate the adaptive immune system. This study aimed to analyze the levels of cytokines and chemokines synthesized by the whole blood cells (WBC) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of...

GB virus C (GBV-C), also known as hepatitis G virus, is a recently discovered flavivirus-like RNA agent with unclear pathogenic implications. To investigate whether human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) are susceptible to in vitro GBV-C infection, we have incubated PBMC from four healthy blood donors with a human GBV-C RNA-positive serum. By means of (i) strand-specific reverse transc...

PURPOSE Treatment with interleukin (IL)-2 (Proleukin) yields a 10% to 20% response rate in patients with metastatic melanoma or metastatic renal cell carcinoma. IL-2 is known to activate distinct signals within lymphocytes, including the Janus-activated kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) pathway. We examined the phosphorylation of STAT5 (P-STAT5) in IL-2-stimulated i...

Interferon (IFN)-gamma ELISPOT can be used to monitor the magnitude of virus-specific cellular immune responses in vaccine trials. Often, IFN-gamma ELISPOT is performed with cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). However, it has not been well defined yet to what extent diminished cell viability of PBMC following cryopreservation affects IFN-gamma responses in ELISPOT. Therefor...