Angiogenesis represents a hallmark of tumor progression in Multiple Myeloma (MM), a still incurable malignancy. Here we analyzed the activity of cytokine-stimulated NK cells against tumor-associated endothelial cells isolated from bone marrow aspirates of MM patients with active disease (MMECs). We show that NK cells activated with optimal doses of IL-15 killed MMECs thanks to the concerted act...

Background Metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) is common and lethal generally not responsive to current immunotherapies. We hypothesize that efficacious T cell-based immunotherapy can be developed for this malignancy, provided immune checkpoints relevant liver metastasis, the first site of disease progression, are targeted. Here, we characterized CRC metastases by RNAseq, FACS in vitro functiona...

Comorbidity or a combination of several diseases in the same individual is a common and widely investigated phenomenon. However, the genetic background for non-random disease combinations is not fully understood. Modern technologies and approaches to genomic data analysis enable the investigation of the genetic profile of patients burdened with several diseases (polypathia, disease conglomerate...

Natural Killer (NK) cells were called as such due to their ability to spontaneously kill tumor cell lines in vitro. Peripheral NK cells have long been considered rapid responding innate effector lymphocyte primed to produce cytotoxic granules and pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IFN-γ and TNF-α when they encounter virusinfected, transformed or damaged self-tissue. However, it is becoming clea...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease characterized by infiltration of pathogenic immune cells in the CNS resulting in destruction of the myelin sheath and surrounding axons. We and others have previously measured the frequency of human myelin-reactive T cells in peripheral blood. Using T cell cloning techniques, a modest increase in the frequency of myelin-reactive T cells in patien...

The incredible leaps in technology that now make high-speed genome sequencing possible are revolutionizing the hunt for genes and genetic variations associated with disease. A stunning series of recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified new candidate genes for a number of common diseases including breast cancer, heart disease, diabetes type I and II, obesity, Crohn's disease...

Background Blood leukocyte counts are important biomarkers for the onset of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)[1-3]. However, causal relationship is unclear. Objectives We implement a two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) analysis to investigate potential association. Methods The summary statistics blood were available from public databases (n=172435)[4]. SNPs related SLE risk extracted large...

Background Sjögren’s disease (SjD) is an autoimmune characterized by exocrine gland dysfunction. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a functionally diverse class of non-protein coding that longer than 200 nucleotides. Our previous study using whole blood RNA-seq found lncRNA, LINC01871 , overexpressed in SjD relative to controls [1]. CRISPR-Cas9 targeting HSB2 T cells yielded -/- clone with alte...

Background Autoimmune conditions such as primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) share clinical serological features characterized by IFN signature (1), autoantibody formation (2), post-activated phenotype (3) chronic inflammation. Although the 2019 SLE EULAR/ACR classification criteria facilitate a more precise discrimination between pSS (4), better understandin...

Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a clonal malignant disorder characterized by an uncontrolled proliferation of immature T or B lymphocytes. Extensive studies have shown that the epigenetic changes, especially modified DNA methylation patterns in the regulatory regions through the DNA methyltransferase (DNMTs), play an important role in the development of genetic disorders and a...