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Topic Review
Causality of Vaccine Allergy
Vaccines constitute the most effective medications in public health as they control and prevent the spread of infectious diseases and reduce mortality. Similar to other medications, allergic reactions can occur during vaccination. While most reactions are neither frequent nor serious, anaphylactic reactions are potentially life-threatening allergic reactions that are encountered rarely, but can cause serious complications. The allergic responses caused by vaccines can stem from activation of mast cells via Fcε receptor-1 type I reaction, mediated by the interaction between immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies against a particular vaccine, and occur within minutes or up to four hours. 
  • 665
  • 29 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was named after it was first extracted from porcine brain tissue and identified as a survival factor for neuronal populations that are not responsive to NGF. Beyond its role in neurons, BDNF is also released by keratinocytes, melanocytes, fibroblasts, endothelial cells, platelets, and several immune cells such as T cells, B cells, monocytes, macrophages, mast cells, and eosinophils.
  • 664
  • 30 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Cryptococcus
Cryptococcosis is a disease caused by the pathogenic fungi Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii, both environmental fungi that cause severe pneumonia and may even lead to cryptococcal meningoencephalitis. Although C. neoformans affects more fragile individuals, such as immunocompromised hosts through opportunistic infections, C. gattii causes a serious indiscriminate primary infection in immunocompetent individuals. Typically seen in tropical and subtropical environments, C. gattii has increased its endemic area, largely due to climatic factors that favor contagion in warmer climates. It is important to point out that not only C. gattii, but the Cryptococcus species complex produces a polysaccharidic capsule with immunomodulatory properties, enabling the pathogenic species of Cryptococccus to subvert the host immune response during the establishment of cryptococcosis, facilitating its dissemination in the infected organism. C. gattii causes a more severe and difficult-to-treat infection, with few antifungals eliciting an effective response during chronic treatment. 
  • 661
  • 26 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is the most frequent hematological neoplasm in the world with more than 544,000 new NHL cases diagnosed in 2020 (2.8% of all cancer diagnoses). Of all the NHL subtypes, the most common is diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), accounting for approximately 40% of lymphoma cases. DLBCL is also one of the most aggressive subtypes; 5-year survival in elderly patients does not exceed 40%. The most common first-line treatment for DLBCL is chemoimmunotherapy containing rituximab, the so-called R-CHOP regimen (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine), which fails in 30–40% of patients. Although relapsed/refractory (r/r) patients receive second-line treatment or may undergo autologous stem cell transplantation, their prognosis remains poor. Years of employment of rituximab as a core of first-line treatment and recent observations on CAR-T cell therapy clearly demonstrate that the use of immunotherapy invariably leads to the induction of resistance.
  • 660
  • 23 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Insights into Immunogenic Cell Death
Immunogenic cell death (ICD) is a type of regulated cell death (RCD), increasingly studied in recent years, due to its therapeutic implication in several diseases associated with immune system dysfunction. The new and increasingly studied concept of immunogenic cell death (ICD) revealed a previously unknown perspective of the various regulated cell death (RCD) modalities, elucidating their immunogenic properties and rendering obsolete the notion that immune stimulation is solely the outcome of necrosis. A distinct characteristic of ICD is the release of danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) by dying and/or dead cells. These are evolutionary conserved stress signals, recognized primarily by innate immune system receptors. The immunogenicity of DAMPs characterizes ICD, rendering them potential prognostic, diagnostic clinical tools and/or possible therapeutic targets.
  • 660
  • 14 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Parvovirus-Based Combinatorial Cancer Immunotherapy
Resistance to anticancer treatments poses continuing challenges to oncology researchers and clinicians. The underlying mechanisms are complex and multifactorial. However, the immunologically “cold” tumor microenvironment (TME) has recently emerged as one of the critical players in cancer progression and therapeutic resistance. Therefore, TME modulation through induction of an immunological switch towards inflammation (“warming up”) is among the leading approaches in modern oncology. Oncolytic viruses (OVs) are seen today not merely as tumor cell-killing (oncolytic) agents, but also as cancer therapeutics with multimodal antitumor action. Due to their intrinsic or engineered capacity for overcoming immune escape mechanisms, warming up the TME and promoting antitumor immune responses, OVs hold the potential for creating a proinflammatory background, which may in turn facilitate the action of other (immunomodulating) drugs. This review deals with the smallest among all OVs, the H-1 parvovirus (H-1PV), and focuses on H-1PV-based combinatorial approaches, whose efficiency has been proven in preclinical and/or clinical settings. Special focus is given to cancer types with most devastating impact on life expectancy that urgently call for novel therapies.
  • 659
  • 11 Oct 2021
Topic Review
COVID-19 in the Brain and Nervous System
COVID-19 can spread throughout the central nervous system, impacting the brain and spinal cord, and neurological symptoms could explain this in people infected with long-term infection.
  • 659
  • 29 Jul 2022
Topic Review
MRNA-Based Vaccines
The mRNA-based vaccine approach is a promising alternative to traditional vaccines due to its ability for prompt development, high potency, and potential for secure administration and low-cost production.
  • 657
  • 02 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Magnetic Nanostructures for Cancer Immunotherapy
Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) represent an attractive class of nanomaterials due to their unique physical and chemical features that allow them to respond specifically to magnetic fields. Among the magnetic class of materials, iron oxide-based nanoparticles are the only inorganic nanomaterials that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for medical applications. Magnetic nanomaterials are particularly appealing for cancer immunotherapy due to their unique features, which include (i) the traceability of their signal by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or by magnetic particle imaging (MPI) techniques ; (ii) their exploitation as carriers to promote the accumulation and the efficient delivery of biotherapeutic compounds, such as genes and peptides, into a specific target cell or tissue; (iii) their ability to mediate the elimination of cancer cells through the production of a local thermo-ablative effect when exposed to an external alternating magnetic field, referred to as magnetic hyperthermia therapy (MHT); and (iv) their intrinsic immunomodulatory properties that can be harnessed to further promote or modulate the immune function.
  • 657
  • 07 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells in Solid Tumors
The immune response, both innate and adaptive, is a key player in cancer development and progression. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are a subset of dendritic cells that play one of the central roles in the immune system. They are known mostly as the major IFN type I-producing cells upon stimulation of Toll-like receptors 7 and 9.
  • 657
  • 15 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Exosome-Mediated Immunosuppression in Tumor Microenvironments
Exosomes are membranous structures secreted by nearly all cell types. As critical messengers for intercellular communication, exosomes deliver bioactive cargoes to recipient cells and are involved in multiple physiopathological processes, including immunoregulation. This pioneering research revealed that cancer cells release programmed death-ligand 1-positive exosomes into the circulation to counter antitumor immunity systemically via T cells. Tumor cell-derived exosomes (TDEs) also play an immunosuppressive role in other immunocytes, including dendritic cells (DCs), macrophages, natural killer (NK) cells, and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Moreover, exosomes secreted by nontumor cells in the tumor microenvironments (TMEs) also exert immunosuppressive effects.
  • 657
  • 29 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Innate Immunity and SARS-CoV-2 Infection
The innate immune system is important for initial antiviral response. SARS-CoV-2 can result in overactivity or suppression of the innate immune system. A dysregulated immune response is associated with poor outcomes; with patients having significant Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte ratios (NLR) due to neutrophilia alongside lymphopenia. Elevated cytokines like interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8 leads to overactivity and is a prominent feature of severe COVID-19 patients. Several factors like pre-existing co-morbidities, genetic risks, viral pathogenicity, and therapeutic efficacy act as important modifiers of SARS-CoV-2 risks for disease through an interplay with innate host inflammatory responses. In this review, we discuss the role of the innate immune system at play with other important modifiers in SARS-CoV-2 infection.
  • 657
  • 21 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Immunomodulation Potential of Probiotics
The use of probiotics in livestock has been suggested to significantly improve their health, immunity, growth performance, nutritional digestibility, and intestinal microbial balance. Furthermore, it was reported that the use of probiotics in animals was helpful in equilibrating their beneficial microbial population and microbial turnover via stimulating the host immune response through specific secretions and competitive exclusion of potentially pathogenic bacteria in the digestive tract.
  • 653
  • 11 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Phenotype and Immune System
Carcinoma cells that undergo an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and display a predominantly mesenchymal phenotype (hereafter EMT tumor cells) are associated with immune exclusion and immune deviation in the tumor microenvironment (TME). A large body of evidence has shown that EMT tumor cells and immune cells can reciprocally influence each other, with EMT cells promoting immune exclusion and deviation and immune cells promoting, under certain circumstances, the induction of EMT in tumor cells. This cross-talk between EMT tumor cells and immune cells can occur both between EMT tumor cells and cells of either the native or adaptive immune system.
  • 653
  • 22 Apr 2022
Topic Review
IFN-α-Conditioned Dendritic Cells
Dendritic cells (DCs) are unique cellular drivers orchestrating adaptive immune response. In the light of the recent success of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in cancer treatment, DC have recently been reconsidered as critical cellular adjuvants in cancer vaccination. In fact, increasing the presentation of tumor antigens remains one of the major issues for eliciting a strong antitumor immune response. A number of studies have confirmed that type I IFN can efficiently promote the differentiation of peripheral blood monocytes into potent DC (IFN-DC), orientating DC functions towards the priming and expansion of protective antitumor immune responses. IFN-DC can be conveniently exploited for the design of effective strategies of cancer vaccination as a monotherapy or in combination with immune-checkpoint inhibitors or immunomodulatory drugs.
  • 652
  • 09 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Immune-Targeting Nanomaterials
Cancer immunotherapy is a treatment method in which the immune system is stimulated to communicate with the tumor at the tumor microenvironment (TME) to detect, target, and destroy the growth of the cancer cells or malignancy.
  • 652
  • 30 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Mechanisms of Neutrophil Extracellular Trap Formation and Regulation
As one of the most important components of the innate immune system, neutrophils are always at the forefront of the response to diseases. The immune functions of neutrophils include phagocytosis, degranulation, production of reactive oxygen species, and the production of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). NETs are composed of deconcentrated chromatin DNA, histones, myeloperoxidase (MPO) and neutrophil elastase (NE), playing an important role in the resistance to some pathogenic microbial invasions.
  • 652
  • 25 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Mechano-Immunomodulation in Space
The gravity environment in space is termed “microgravity” (μG) and is defined as approximately 10−6 of Earth’s surface gravity (G), as there is never truly a complete absence of gravity. The effects of μG on various cell types have been documented in bone, cartilage, and endothelial cells, to name a few, and immune cells are no exception. Among the various microgravity-induced side effects, a compromised or altered immune response can have serious consequences and jeopardize the survival of humans in space.
  • 650
  • 28 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Immunology of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children
Immune responses following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in children are still under investigation. Even though coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is usually mild in the pediatric population, some children exhibit severe clinical manifestations, require hospitalization, or develop the most severe condition: a multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. The activated innate, humoral and T-cell-mediated immunological pathways that lead certain pediatric populations to present with MIS-C or remain asymptomatic after SARS-CoV-2 infection are yet to be established. This entry focuses on the immunological aspects of MIS-C with respect to innate, humoral, and cellular immunity. In addition, presents the role of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein as a superantigen in the pathophysiological mechanisms, discusses the great heterogeneity among the immunological studies in the pediatric population, and highlights possible reasons why some children with a certain genetic background present with MIS-C.
  • 650
  • 31 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Dendritic Cells and Allergic Asthma
Here we describe the pathophysiology of type II allergic asthma and the role that dendritic cells (DCs) play in the instruction of allergen specific, T-cell mediated immune responses. Moreover, we provide an overview of our current understanding pertinent to DCs that acquire tolerogenic properties and thus represent essential regulators of aberrant Th2 asthmatic responses.
  • 649
  • 17 Nov 2020
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