The role of nonclassical HLA-class Ib molecules HLA-G and HLA-E in the progression of Neuroblastoma (NB), the most common pediatric extracranial solid tumor, has been characterized in the last years. Since BM infiltration by NB cells is an adverse prognostic factor, we have here analyzed for the first time the concentration of soluble (s)HLA-G and HLA-E in bone marrow (BM) plasma samples from N...

Pore-forming toxins are potent virulence factors secreted by a large array of bacteria. Here, we deciphered the action of ExlA from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and ShlA from Serratia marcescens on host cell-cell junctions. ExlA and ShlA are two members of a unique family of pore-forming toxins secreted by a two-component secretion system. Bacteria secreting either toxin induced an ExlA- or ShlA-depe...

Human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-G has seven isoforms, of which HLA-G1-G4 are membrane-bound and HLA-G5-G7 are soluble. Previous studies reinforced HLA-G expression was strongly related to poor prognosis in different types of cancers. Among these studies, the monoclonal antibody (mAb) 4H84 was used which detects all HLA-G isoform heavy chain; unfortunately, leaves the specific types of isoforms ex...

The HLA-G molecule plays an important role in immunomodulation. In a previous study carried out on a southern French population our team showed that HLA-G haplotypes, defined by SNPs in the coding region and specific SNPs located in 5'URR and 3'UTR regulatory regions, are associated with differential soluble HLA-G expression (sHLA-G). Furthermore, the structure of these HLA-G haplotypes appears...

HLA-G has been documented both in establishment of anti-tumour immune responses and in tumour evasion. To investigate the clinical relevance of HLA-G in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), expression status and potential significance of HLA-G in NSCLC were analysed. In this study, HLA-G expression in 101 NSCLC primary lesions and plasma soluble HLA-G (sHLA-G) from 91 patients were analysed with...

Serratia marcescens is a Gram-negative bacterium that thrives in a wide variety of ambient niches and interacts with an ample range of hosts. As an opportunistic human pathogen, it has increased its clinical incidence in recent years, being responsible for life-threatening nosocomial infections. S. marcescens produces numerous exoproteins with toxic effects, including the ShlA pore-forming toxi...

BACKGROUND Most HIV infections are transmitted across mucosal epithelium. Understanding the role of innate and specific mucosal immunity in susceptibility or protection against HIV infection, as well as the effect of HIV infection on mucosal immunity, are of fundamental importance. HLA-G is a powerful modulator of the immune response. The aim of this study was to investigate whether soluble HLA...

For Serratia marcescens, secreted hemolysin/cytotoxin is not only secreted but also activated by an outer membrane protein. Excluding posttranslational processing by mass spectrometry, the conformation of active and inactive ShlA derivatives strongly differed in electrophoretic mobilities, gel permeation chromatography, sensitivity to trypsin, circular dichroism, and intrinsic fluorescence. We ...

Backgroud: Thrombocyte concentrate is one of the important blood component to improve patient's clinical condition. In order to provide thrombocyte concentrate with good therapeutic effect, the preparation process and storage condition should be maintained properly. One attempt to maintain good quality of thrombocyte concentrates is by doing Prestorage Leukoreduced Filtration (PLF) method durin...

Exquisitely regulated cytokine balance during early pregnancy is thought to be necessary for promoting survival of the fetal allograft. Our previous studies have demonstrated that membrane-bound human leukocyte antigen (mHLA-G) expressed on trophoblasts is one of the key factors in regulating cytokine balance by shifting the Th1/Th2 balance toward Th2 polarization, a favourable milieu for the m...