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Topic Review
Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Non-Receptor 2 in the Immunity
PTPN2 (protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor 2), also called TCPTP (T cell protein tyrosine phosphatase), is a member of the PTP family signaling proteins. Phosphotyrosine-based signaling of this non-transmembrane protein is essential for regulating cell growth, development, differentiation, survival, and migration. 
  • 897
  • 08 Sep 2022
Topic Review
CD83 as Checkpoint Molecule Controlling Resolution of Inflammation
Chronic inflammatory diseases and transplant rejection represent major challenges for modern health care. Thus, identification of immune checkpoints that contribute to resolution of inflammation is key to developing novel therapeutic agents for those conditions. In recent years, the CD83 (cluster of differentiation 83) protein has emerged as an interesting potential candidate for such a “pro-resolution” therapy. This molecule occurs in a membrane-bound and a soluble isoform (mCD83 and sCD83, respectively), both of which are involved in resolution of inflammation. Originally described as a maturation marker on dendritic cells (DCs), mCD83 is also expressed by activated B and T cells as well as regulatory T cells (Tregs) and controls turnover of MHC II molecules in the thymus, and thereby positive selection of CD4+ T cells. Additionally, it serves to confine overshooting (auto-)immune responses. Consequently, animals with a conditional deletion of CD83 in DCs or regulatory T cells suffer from impaired resolution of inflammation. Pro-resolving effects of sCD83 became evident in pre-clinical autoimmune and transplantation models, where application of sCD83 reduced disease symptoms and enhanced allograft survival, respectively.
  • 897
  • 07 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Trypanosoma cruzi Infection; liver involvement
Currently, in Chagas disease, hepatomegaly is cited in most papers published which either study acutely infected patients or experimental models, and we know that the Trypanosoma cruzi can infect multiple cell types in the liver, especially Kupffer cells and dendritic cells. Moreover, liver damage is more pronounced in cases of oral infection, which is mainly found in the Amazon region. However, the importance of liver involvement, including the hepatic immune response, in disease progression does not receive much attention.
  • 895
  • 03 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Glucocorticoid Receptor Activity
Glucocorticoids (GCs) represent a well-known class of lipophilic steroid hormones biosynthesised, with a circadian rhythm, by the adrenal glands in humans and by the inter-renal tissue in teleost fish (e.g., zebrafish).
  • 894
  • 23 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Practical Considerations for Next-Generation Adjuvant Development and Translation
Throughout the last two decades, there has been increasing focus on the discovery and translation of new immune-stimulating agents. These compounds are often collectively referred to as adjuvants due to their precedent of use in vaccine development. There has been an expansion in the application of adjuvants in oncology and other areas as the understanding and definition of adjuvants continue to grow. Adjuvants stimulate key cell types in the innate immune system and can influence the scale and class of immune response directed towards a given antigen or antigens.
  • 893
  • 07 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Peripheral Blood-Based Biomarkers
As cancer immunotherapy using immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is rapidly evolving in clinical practice, it is necessary to identify biomarkers that will allow the selection of cancer patients who will benefit most or least from ICIs and to longitudinally monitor patients’ immune responses during treatment. Various peripheral blood-based immune biomarkers are being identified with recent advances in high-throughput multiplexed analytical technologies. The identification of these biomarkers, which can be easily detected in blood samples using non-invasive and repeatable methods, will contribute to overcoming the limitations of previously used tissue-based biomarkers. Here, we discuss the potential of circulating immune cells, soluble immune and inflammatory molecules, circulating tumor cells and DNA, exosomes, and the blood-based tumor mutational burden, as biomarkers for the prediction of immune responses and clinical benefit from ICI treatment in patients with advanced cancer. 
  • 892
  • 29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Role of IL-33 Signalling in COVID-19 Inflammatory Status
During acute infection, the increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which are involved in the pathology of disease and the development of SARS-CoV-2-induced acute respiratory disease syndrome, the life-threatening form of this infection, are correlated with patient survival and disease severity. IL-33, a key cytokine involved in both innate and adaptive immune responses in mucosal organs, can increase airway inflammation, mucus secretion and Th2 cytokine synthesis in the lungs, following respiratory infections. Similar to cases of exposure to known respiratory virus infections, exposure to SARS-CoV-2 induces the expression of IL-33, correlating with T-cell activation and lung disease severity.
  • 891
  • 08 Dec 2022
Topic Review
The Immunology and Therapy-Resistant Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in men. Initially, it is androgen-dependent, but it eventually develops into castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), which is incurable with current androgen receptor signaling target therapy and chemotherapy. Immunotherapy, specifically with immune checkpoint inhibitors, has brought hope for the treatment of this type of prostate cancer. Approaches such as vaccines, adoptive chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR-T) cells, and immune checkpoint inhibitors have been employed to activate innate and adaptive immune responses to treat prostate cancer, but with limited success. Prostate cancer has a complex tumor microenvironment (TME) in which various immunosuppressive molecules and mechanisms coexist and interact.
  • 889
  • 12 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Fungal Host Defence
Humans have developed complex immune systems that defend against invading microbes, including fungal pathogens. Many highly specialized cells of the immune system share the ability to store antimicrobial compounds in membrane bound organelles that can be immediately deployed to eradicate or inhibit growth of invading pathogens. These membrane-bound organelles consist of secretory vesicles or granules, which move to the surface of the cell, where they fuse with the plasma membrane to release their contents in the process of degranulation. Lymphocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, mast cells, eosinophils, and basophils all degranulate in fungal host defence. While anti-microbial secretory vesicles are shared among different immune cell types, information about each cell type has emerged independently leading to an uncoordinated and confusing classification of granules and incomplete description of the mechanism by which they are deployed. While there are important differences, there are many similarities in granule morphology, granule content, stimulus for degranulation, granule trafficking, and release of granules against fungal pathogens.
  • 888
  • 30 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Mechanisms of Immunotoxicity
The immune system orchestrates the body’s main defense against invading biologic agents including but not limited to bacteria, viruses, chemicals, and foreign tissues. Lymphocytes, neutrophils, macrophages, eosinophils, and basophils are the main players. These cells are produced at an increased rate during childhood, where such a blood draw in a child would reveal an average number of 3000/mm3 compared to 4500–11,000/mm3 in adults, and the development of the human immune system begins in the fetal period and reaches its maximum capacity around puberty.
  • 887
  • 04 Aug 2021
Topic Review
HIV Lifecycle
The theory of immune regulation involves a homeostatic balance between T-helper 1 (Th1) and T-helper 2 (Th2) responses. The Th1 and Th2 theories were introduced in 1986 as a result of studies in mice, whereby T-helper cell subsets were found to direct different immune response pathways. Subsequently, this hypothesis was extended to human immunity, with Th1 cells mediating cellular immunity to fight intracellular pathogens, while Th2 cells mediated humoral immunity to fight extracellular pathogens. Several disease conditions were later found to tilt the balance between Th1 and Th2 immune response pathways, including HIV infection, but the exact mechanism for the shift from Th1 to Th2 cells was poorly understood. 
  • 887
  • 22 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Immune Functions against SARS-CoV-2
Micronutrients have a potential interventional role to strengthen the immune system against the emerging infection caused by COVID-19.
  • 887
  • 07 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Dendritic Cell-Based Cancer Immunotherapy
Cancer immunotherapy has now attracted much attention because of the recent success of immune checkpoint inhibitors. However, they are only beneficial in a limited fraction of patients most probably due to lack of sufficient CD8+ cytotoxic T-lymphocytes against tumor antigens in the host. In this regard, dendritic cells are useful tools to induce host immune responses against exogenous antigens. In particular, recently characterized cross-presenting dendritic cells are capable of inducing CD8+ cytotoxic T-lymphocytes against exogenous antigens such as tumor antigens and uniquely express the chemokine receptor XCR1. 
  • 886
  • 29 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Pathophysiological Hypoxia Shapes Immune Response
Oxygen availability varies throughout the human body in health and disease. Under physiological conditions, oxygen availability drops from the lungs over the blood stream towards the different tissues into the cells and the mitochondrial cavities leading to physiological low oxygen conditions or physiological hypoxia in all organs including primary lymphoid organs. Moreover, immune cells travel throughout the body searching for damaged cells and foreign antigens facing a variety of oxygen levels.
  • 886
  • 09 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Mast Cells and Vitamin D Status
The immune system is made up by an extremely composite group of cells, whose regulated and harmonious activity is fundamental to maintain health. The mast cells are an essential effector of inflammatory response which is characterized by a massive release of mediators accumulated in cytoplasmic secretory granules. However, beyond the effects on immune response, mast cells can modify bone metabolism and are capable of intervening in the genesis of pathologies such as osteoporosis and osteopenia. Vitamin D is recognized to induce changes in bone metabolism, but it is also able to influence immune response, suppressing mast cell activation and IgE synthesis from B cells and increasing the number of dendritic cells and IL-10-generating regulatory T cells. 
  • 883
  • 05 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Metabolic Control of Tumor Myeloid Cells
In tumors, myeloid cells, including tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), represent a predominant immune population with significant heterogeneity. 
  • 882
  • 08 Dec 2021
Topic Review
The Eclectic Nature of Glioma-Infiltrating Macrophages and Microglia
Glioblastomas (GBMs) are complex ecosystems composed of highly multifaceted tumor and myeloid cells capable of responding to different environmental pressures, including therapies. Recent studies have uncovered the diverse phenotypical identities of brain-populating myeloid cells. Differences in the immune proportions and phenotypes within tumors seem to be dictated by molecular features of glioma cells. Furthermore, increasing evidence underscores the significance of interactions between myeloid cells and glioma cells that allow them to evolve in a synergistic fashion to sustain tumor growth.
  • 880
  • 21 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Regulatory T Cells in Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease that typically presents in childhood and early adulthood that results in the destruction of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells by T cells. One potential protective mechanism includes the suppression of immune responses by regulatory CD4 T cells (Tregs) that recognize self-peptides from islets presented by human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II molecules.
  • 879
  • 25 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Immunogenic Cell Death by Radiation
Ionizing radiation (IR) is used to treat 50% of cancers. While the cytotoxic effects related to DNA damage with IR have been known since the early 20th century, the role of the immune system in the treatment response is still yet to be fully determined. IR can induce immunogenic cell death (ICD), which activates innate and adaptive immunity against the cancer.
  • 878
  • 06 May 2023
Topic Review
Interleukin-33 in Gastrointestinal Tract Cancers
Accumulating evidence suggests that Interleukin-33 (IL-33), a member of the IL-1 family, has crucial roles in tissue homeostasis and repair, type 2 immunity, inflammation, and viral infection. IL-33 is a novel contributing factor in tumorigenesis and plays a critical role in regulating angiogenesis and cancer progression in a variety of human cancers. The partially unraveled role of IL-33/ST2 signaling in gastrointestinal tract cancers is being investigated through the analysis of patients’ samples and by studies in murine and rat models. 
  • 876
  • 09 Jun 2023
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