Lymphocytes, the cells competent to initiate immune responses, can be divided into two major groups: thymus-derived or T cells responsible for "cellular immunity" (e.g. delayed hypersensitivity reactions) and bursa (or bursa-equivalent) derived or B cells which produce immunoglobulin (antibody) molecules and are involved in "humoral immunity". "Accessory" cells, such as monocytes (or macrophage...

Decay-accelerating factor (DAF, CD55) is a GPI-anchored membrane protein that regulates complement activation on autologous cells. In addition to protecting host tissues from complement attack, DAF has been shown to inhibit CD4+ T cell immunity in the setting of model Ag immunization. However, whether DAF regulates natural T cell immune response during pathogenic infection is not known. We desc...

IgA is a specific isotype required for mucosal immunity and is the most abundant Ab produced in vivo. Recently, several inductive signals for IgA class switch recombination have been identified; however, the molecular details of the action of these signals and the specific factors acting in B cells remain elusive. In this study, we show that combination of retinoic acid (RA) and TGF-beta1 with ...

Forty years ago, high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) was discovered in calf thymus and named according to its electrophoretic mobility in polyacrylamide gels. Now, we know that HMGB1 performs dual functions. Inside the cell, HMGB1 is a highly conserved chromosomal protein acting as a DNA chaperone. Outside of the cell, HMGB1 is a prototypical damage-associated molecular pattern, acting with cytok...

objective(s) studies have described immunomedulatory effects of sun exposure and ultraviolet radiation on infectious and neoplastic diseases. here the effect of exposure to low potency radiation of sun on the course of leishmaniasis in mice was studied. materials and methods fifteen balb/c mice were exposed to suberythemogenic doses of sun (mean 180 mj/cm2/day of uvb) 2 months before and 4 mont...

background and objectives: brucellosis is an important health problem in developing countries and no vaccine is available for the prevention of infection in humans. because of clinically infectious diseases and their economic consequences in human and animals, designing a proper vaccine against brucella is desirable. in this study, we evaluated the immune responses induced by a designed recombi...

conclusions results indicated that the present vaccination program is insufficient for immunity against measles in this area. the general population immunity was lower than the necessary level for the elimination of measles. therefore, sero-epidemiological studies are necessary to organize national programs for control and elimination of measles. results overall, 821 (91.2%) of the studied popu...

Type 2 immunity is essential for host protection against nematode infection but is detrimental in allergic inflammation or asthma. There is a major research focus on the effector molecules and specific cell types involved in the initiation of type 2 immunity. Recent work has implicated an important role of epithelial-derived cytokines, IL-25 and IL-33, acting on innate immune cells that are bel...