One of the hallmarks of Celiac disease (CD) is intraepithelial lymphocytosis in the small intestine. Until now, investigations to characterize the T cell subpopulations within the epithelial layer have not discriminated between the heterodimeric co-receptor molecule, CD8αβ, and the possibly immunoregulatory CD8αα homodimer molecule. Besides TCRαβ+ CD4+ cells, no other phenotypes have been shown...

INTRODUCTION The birth of most mammals features a dramatic increase in oxygen while placenta-derived hormones such as β-estradiol and progesterone plummet. In experimental newborn animals, transiently elevated oxygen concentrations cause death of neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocyte precursors. High oxygen has been associated with cerebral palsy in human preterm infants while progesterone i...

Specific tolerance to allografts has been achieved by a variety of means. We have previously shown that ex vivo removal of dividing CD4(+) T cells from an MLR or "pruning" delays skin allograft rejection. We tested pruning of alloreactive T cells as a strategy for retaining a broad T cell repertoire while removing alloreactive T cells in a model of cardiac allograft transplant. Using CFSE stain...

Ribavirin is an antiviral drug used in combination with pegylated interferon-α (IFN-α) for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Recently, ribavirin was reported to inhibit the suppressive activity of regulatory T (Treg) cells. In the present study, we re-evaluated the effect of ribavirin on Foxp3(+)CD4(+)CD25(+) Treg cells from normal donors. First, we examined the expression of ...

Recent evidence has demonstrated that regulatory T cells (Treg) were enriched in the tumor sites of patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). However, the causes of enrichment and suppressive mechanisms need to be further elucidated. Here we demonstrated that CD4(+)CD25(+)FoxP3(+)CD127(lo) Treg were markedly increased and their phenotypes were different in peripheral blood (PB) as well a...

Tumor-derived exosomes express tumor antigens, leading to their promising utility as tumor vaccines, but they also can suppress T-cell signaling molecules and reduce cytotoxic effects. We investigated whether interleukin-12 (IL-12)-anchored exosomes (EXO/IL-12) reverse tumor exosome-mediated inhibition of T-cell activation and cytotoxicity was associated with inhibition of JAK3 and p-STAT5. A c...

Human somatic cells have a limited life span in vitro. Upon aging and with each cell division, shortening of telomeres occurs, which eventually will lead to cell cycle arrest. Ectopic hTERT expression has been shown to extend the life span of human T cells by preventing this telomere erosion. In the present study, we have shown that ectopic hTERT expression extends the life span of CD4+ T helpe...

INTRODUCTION Our aim was to investigate the immune status of midgut carcinoid patients. Cancer patients generally display suppressed Th1-type immunity that disables mounting of an efficient anti-tumor response. However, little is known about patients with neuroendocrine midgut carcinoids. MATERIAL AND METHODS Circulating regulatory T cells were determined in patient blood by staining for CD4,...

Background. Growth arrest-specific (Gas) 6 is one of the endogenous ligands of TAM receptors (Tyro3, Axl, and Mertk), and its role as an immune modulator has been recently emphasized. Naturally occurring CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) are essential for the active suppression of autoimmunity. The present study was designed to investigate whether Tregs express TAM receptors and the potentia...

The physiologic role of CXCR4 on hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) is not fully understood. Here, we show that radioprotection of lethally irradiated mice by embryonic day 14.5 (E14.5) CXCR4 / fetal liver (FL) cells was markedly impaired when compared with CXCR4 / counterparts, but this defect was rescued when hosts were engrafted with high cell numbers. This quantitative defect contr...