All skin flaps showed acceptable static 2-point discrimination

All skin flaps showed acceptable static 2-point discrimination Ferrostatin-1 solubility dmso and adequate protective sensation. Patient satisfaction for resurfaced digits averaged 9 on a 10-points visual analogic scale. In conclusion, the free fasciocutaneous flaps used were thin and did not interfere with finger movements. The

patient’s finger formed a smooth contour and acceptable functional results were obtained after reconstruction. This method may be a valuable alternative for reconstruction of entire circumferential avulsion injury of the digits. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microsurgery, 2013. “
“The object of this study was to compare the outcomes of the vacuum assisted closure (VAC) therapy and conventional wound care with dressing change for treatment of complex wounds in patients with replantation of amputated upper and lower extremities. Data of 43 patients with replantation of amputated extremities from May 2004 to December 2011 were reviewed. There were 18 wounds of 18 patients with replantation, which were treated by dressing change and 26 wounds of Fulvestrant cell line 25 patients by VAC

therapy. The outcomes were evaluated by the survival rate of replanted extremities, growth of granulation tissue, interval between wound treatment and secondary procedure and eventual secondary wound coverage methods. Vascular thromboses were found in 3 patients with wound treatment by dressing change and 5 by VAC. All replants of two groups of patients survived after salvage procedures. The wound score was 3.6 ± 0.7 in the conventional dressing change group and 5.8 ± 0.7 in the VAC group at the sixth day after treatment, respectively. The intervals between wound treatment and secondary wound coverage procedure were 12.0 ± 1.7 days in the dressing change group and 6.1 ± 0.7 days in

the VAC group. Flaps were applied for wound coverage in 9 out of 18 (50.0%) wounds in the dressing change group and 5 out of 26 (19.2%) in the VAC group (P < 0.05), when the wounds of rest of patients were covered by the skin graft. The results showed that VAC could promote the growth of granulation tissue of wound, decrease the need of flap for wound coverage, and did not change the survival of replantation. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microsurgery 33:620–624, 2013. "
“The Histone demethylase aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of classical suture and sutureless repair with fibrin glue, by using or not a resorbable collagen tube, after sciatic nerve transection. Twenty-five mice were used in this study, divided in five groups. They were submitted to sciatic nerve transection and immediate repair of the nerve stumps by either direct suture or fibrin glue adhesion or by the tubulization technique in which the nerves stumps were sutured or glued to a collagen tube (experimental groups). A control group was designed as the best regeneration condition, by using a crush lesion (control group). After eight weeks, the regenerated nerves were processed for light and electron microscopy.

80 The study was large (736 patients) with a mean follow up of 3 

80 The study was large (736 patients) with a mean follow up of 3 years (range: 6 months to 18 years). At last follow up, 11.5% of patients were obese and obesity was more common in women (17% vs 6%). Obese donors, when compared with the non-obese donors, had significantly higher rates of diabetes (13.5% vs 3%) and hypertension (24% vs 10%). There was a non-significant trend to lower GFR (<60 mL/min) and a higher prevalence of proteinuria in obese donors. This data are concerning and the median follow-up time is short. There is limited selleck screening library detail

given in terms of screening donors for diabetes, or presence of family history for diabetes and baseline BMI. There are cultural reasons cited for the high rate of weight gain post donation, and the population studied is one that is ethnically more at risk of developing diabetes.

This study highlights that the safety data drawn from predominantly Caucasian populations, do not necessarily hold true for populations with a greater risk of diabetes and/or kidney disease. A report from the OPTN/UNOS registry81 records 102 individuals as waiting for transplant who have previously been living donors, in which African Americans are over-represented. There is no information on the learn more prevalence of obesity in the group or other identifiable risk factors that may have been present at donation, however, hypertension and diabetes are listed as the cause of ESKD in roughly one third. The histology of implantation biopsies in obese living donors is subtly different from non-obese donors.82 Increased glomerular planar surface area (GPSA), glomerulomegaly and minor tubular abnormalities are more common in obese donors and there

Branched chain aminotransferase is a trend to increased arterial hyalinosis. There was no difference in the number of segmental sclerotic lesions or degree of interstitial fibrosis. GPSA was correlated with albuminuria, although all donors had 24 h urinary albumins that were within the normal range. Donor follow up was less than 1 year and no difference in serum creatinine was seen between obese and non-obese donors. A retrospective analysis of 73 patients examined the outcome of unilateral nephrectomy done for clinical indication (i.e. not donors).83 At the time of nephrectomy, patients had normal creatinine and urinalysis, no multisystem disease such as diabetes and no morphological abnormality of the remaining kidney examined by ultrasound. Median follow up was 13.6 years (range: 18 months to 35 years). Twenty of 73 patients developed abnormalities of renal function (proteinuria ± renal insufficiency). Average time to proteinuria was 10 ± 6 years and was slowly progressive in most patients. Thirteen of 73 patients developed renal impairment (serum creatinine > 1.4 mg/dL and creatinine clearance < 70 mL/min per 1.73 m2). Time between development of proteinuria and onset of renal impairment was 4.1 ± 4.3 years.

To our knowledge, this test was replicated by another research gr

To our knowledge, this test was replicated by another research group in a Norwegian cohort of adult CD patients [7,8]. In the present study we validated this method in a cohort of 14 young CD patients recruited in the south of Italy, and estimated the level of its reproducibility by exposing the same individual twice to gluten consumption. After the first

in-vivo challenge we observed a significant increase of IFN-γ-secreting cells in response to gliadin 6 days after the wheat intake, confirming the data reported in both Australian and Norwegian adult coeliac patients [4,7,8,23]. Similarly, the magnitude of the IFN-γ responses was comparable to the values AP24534 in vivo found in previous studies [4–7]. When we looked at individual responses we found that, upon wheat consumption, the frequency of IFN-γ-releasing cells to whole gliadin increased at least three times in eight of 14 (57%) subjects, barely within the average obtained in previous studies, that ranged from 40% [23] to 90% [5] of exposed coeliac patients. In agreement with these studies, the specific response to gluten elicited by the in-vivo challenge was mediated Selleck PD0332991 by CD4+ T cells and was DQ2-restricted. Furthermore, the IFN-γ-producing cells expressed

beta-7 integrin, indicating a phenotype of gut-homing cells. Short-term gluten consumption also induced a significant increase of T cells reacting to the immunodominant 33-mer peptide, although contrasting findings were reported on the

frequency of responder patients [2,3]. Anderson and co-workers reported that the great majority of coeliacs reacted to 33-mer (or to truncated peptide, α-gliadin (57–73) Tryptophan synthase [5,6], while in a more recent study reactivity was observed in only six of 10 patients [23]. Our results are in agreement with this latter finding, as we found an evident increase of IFN-γ responses induced by immunodominant gliadin peptide in 8 of 14 patients at first challenge. Unexpectedly, upon the second challenge the number of reacting subjects was far fewer (three of 13 subjects challenged). In this regard, we found that approximately 50% of intestinal T cell lines generated from south Italian CD patients who were assayed in vitro reacted to 33-mer, suggesting that only a subgroup of our coeliac donors seems to display a response to this epitope [2]. These data are not surprising because, despite its strong immunogenicity, 33-mer is one of several gliadin-derived T cell epitopes active in coeliac patients [2,6], and this could explain the increased magnitude of IFN-γ-positive cells found in response to whole gliadin digest. In contrast to previous studies, in which the immune reactivity to gluten was very low, or totally absent, before wheat consumption at day 0, we also found substantial IFN-γ production instead.

1E) Levels of IL-10 were below the detection limit in both group

1E). Levels of IL-10 were below the detection limit in both groups of mice (data not shown). Finally, analysis of the OVA-stimulated LNC cultures for the proportion of activated T cells showed similar frequency of CD3+CD4+CD44hi T cell in stimulated LNs from WT and PD-1−/− mice (Fig. 1F). Taken together, these results demonstrate that

during breakdown of tolerance and induction of autoimmunity, the absence of PD-1 expression on T cells results in aberrant activation and proliferation of these cells and more severe disease. To identify the potential involvement of microRNAs in PD-1-mediated breakdown of tolerance, we screened the expression of 365 microRNAs by microarray analysis of WT and PD1−/− lymphocytes, isolated from draining LNs of OVA-primed mice, before and after stimulation with OVA (Fig. 2A).

Five microRNAs (miR-21, miR-20a, miR-16, Proteasome inhibitor miR-155, and miR-375) differentially expressed after OVA stimulation in WT and PD1−/− cells. MiR-21 was statistically upregulated (2.3-fold) in unstimulated PD1−/− Selumetinib clinical trial compared with WT cells. OVA stimulation induced miR-21 expression to a higher degree in PD-1−/− than WT cells. The effect of PD-1 on miR-21 expression was also validated by real-time PCR analysis (Fig. 2B). To further assess the role of PD-1 as an miR-21 regulator, we inhibited PD-1 by siRNA treatment (Fig. 2C) and tested miR-21 expression. PD-1 inhibition resulted in >11-fold upregulation in miR-21 expression levels, thus confirming the role of PD-1 as negative regulator of miR-21 (Fig. 2D). We next sought to identify whether this regulation occurs at the transcriptional Doxorubicin order or post-transcriptional level. The observation that PD-1 inhibition by siRNA resulted in upregulation of the primary transcript miR-21 (Fig. 3A) suggests that PD-1 regulates miR-21 transcriptional levels. The previous studies have shown that PD-1 regulates the expression and phosphorylation of STAT5 17. Western blot analysis showed that siRNA inhibition of PD-1 in Jurkat cells resulted in upregulation of STAT5 protein expression and phosphorylation (Fig. 3B). We next analyzed the

known putative promoter area of miR-21 18 for STAT5-binding sites. To this end, we used the TRANSFAC bioinformatic program and identified an evolutionary conserved STAT5 binding site on the miR-21 precursor sequence (Fig. 3C). In support of this, PD-1 inhibition resulted in enrichment of STAT5 binding in miR-21 promoter area (Fig. 3D) and resulted in upregulation of pri-miR-21. Furthermore, concurrent inhibition of PD-1 and STAT5 did not upregulate miR-21 expression (Fig. 3E), suggesting that PD-1 regulates miR-21 expression through STAT5. MicroRNAs exert their function through post-transcriptional inhibition of gene targets 14. Bioinformatic algorithm prediction analysis revealed programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4) as a potential miR-21 gene target.

Indeed, pneumolysin was found to be an essential and sufficient f

Indeed, pneumolysin was found to be an essential and sufficient factor in inducing the expression of IL-1β to a limited level (Fig. 3b and c). Pneumolysin is not a secretary protein because it does not have a typical secretion signal, but it can be released by the action of the cell-bound autolysin (Canvin et al., 1995). This explains how live bacterial

culture and the culture supernatant also displayed a limited induction of IL-1β expression JNK inhibitor cell line (Fig. 3a). Upregulated expression of proinflammatory cytokines represents an important innate defense response to facilitate the clearance of infectious agents by increasing leukocyte influx. A significant amount of neutrophil infiltration was observed in murine lung following NTHi

infection, indicating that NTHi may potently induce the expression of proinflammatory cytokines (Lim et al., 2007a, b). It was also reported that NTHi stimulated the early expressions of proinflammatory cytokines in epithelial cells (Clemans et al., 2000). Indeed, NTHi was shown to maximally induce the expression of IL-1β, TNF-α and cox2 at 3 h after treatment (Fig. 2), although the expression of IL-1β was gradually reduced by three- to fourfold at 7 h (Fig. 4). In comparison with this, a low level of cytokine expression was observed in response to either S. pneumoniae or pneumolysin at 3 h after treatment (Figs 2 and 3). In line with this result, S. pneumoniae-mediated lobar pneumonia in human selleck kinase inhibitor patients does not have many PMNs at the early stage of infection (Lagoa et al., 2005; Ware et al., 2005). Additionally, less immune infiltration was histologically observed in murine lung during S. pneumoniae infection (Lim et al., 2007a, b). However, the expression gradually increased in a time-dependent manner, and peaked at 7 h after treatment (Fig. 4a and b). Streptococcus pneumoniae induced a low level of cytokine expression at the early stage of infection, suggesting that S. pneumoniae may have interfering mechanisms in inducing cytokine expression to a limited level compared with that by NTHi. Based on a previous report, the expression of cox2 induced by IL-1β appears

to be regulated by nuclear factor (NF)-κB and PI3K/AKT pathways (Chun & Surh, 2004). An NF-κB-dependent promoter assay revealed that NF-κB activity in response to S. pneumoniae was over 5 fold lower than that by NTHi check details (Kweon et al., 2006), indicating that the low level of induction may involve interfering with this NF-κB pathway. In addition, IL-1β expression appears to be regulated by the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway (Baldassare et al., 1999). Inhibition of MAPK commonly occurs through the action of MAPK-phosphatase (MKP). Thus, it is highly possible that the increased expression of MKP was responsible for the low level of cytokine expression in response to S. pneumoniae. Consistent with this, we reported previously that S.

DCs developmentally originate from precursor cells in the bone ma

DCs developmentally originate from precursor cells in the bone marrow (BM), and thus can be differentiated in vitro from BM cultures supplemented with either of two important growth factors: GM-CSF or Flt3L [10, 11]. Unlike GM-CSF, which produces an homogenous DC subset, Flt3L can produce comprehensive subsets of splenic DCs equivalents (FL-DCs), including CD11clow CD45RA+ pDCs and CD11chigh CD45RA− cDCs, which can be further divided into CD24+Sirpα− (CD8+ DC equivalent, or CD8eDCs) and CD24−Sirpα+ (CD8− DC equivalent) subsets [12]. Consistent with in vitro findings,

Flt3L and its receptor Flt3, a member of the tyrosine-kinase receptor family, MLN8237 comprise the major extracellular signaling pathway regulating steady-state pDC and cDC generation from BM progenitors in vivo [13]. GM-CSF, on the other hand, is generally believed to be less relevant for steady-state DC development. It acts primarily during inflammation and produces

monocyte-derived inflammatory DCs; the absence of GM-CSF seems to have little effect on steady-state cDCs maintenance in the presence Adriamycin mw of compensatory cytokines [14, 15]. However, a recent report indicated combined lack of GM-CSF and Flt3L in double deficient mice led to further significant reductions of DC progenitors and dermal DCs, suggesting a role of GM-CSF in DC homeostasis in vivo [16]. Although not detectable in serum, GM-CSF is continuously produced in vivo during steady state. GM-CSF expression is increased dramatically in response to pathogenic challenge [17], although endogenous Flt3L levels remain constant [18]. Therefore, GM-CSF may act on DC development synergistically with Flt3L in both steady and inflammatory

states in vivo, but distinct outcomes result from the level of GM-CSF present in each case. However, the interaction of these two hematopoietic growth factors on DC development remains less characterized, particularly in a situation of elevated GM-CSF. To investigate the cumulative effect of GM-CSF and Flt3L exposure on DC development, we performed a series of studies and oxyclozanide found that GM-CSF can divert Flt3L-promoted DC development. We propose that increased production of GM-CSF at inflammatory states might bias differentiation toward the production of inflammatory DCs at the cost of deflecting conventional DC production, resulting in an imbalance of the DC network. To determine the influence on FL-DC development by GM-CSF, we added GM-CSF at the beginning of Flt3L supplemented BM cultures and monitored DC differentiation in vitro driven by these two cytokines. In BM cultures supplemented with Flt3L alone, pDCs start to emerge early at day 3–5, whereas CD8eDCs appear 2 days later (Fig. 1). Composition of all three subsets stabilized around day 8–9, but cells start dying after day 9 (data not shown). The number of FL-DCs did not show any noticeable increase until day 7 and kept increasing until day 9.

Target cells were labeled with Na251CrO4 (Hartmann,

Analy

Target cells were labeled with Na251CrO4 (Hartmann,

Analytik, Braunschweig, Germany) for 1.5 h at 37°C, washed, and added at a concentration of 1×105 cells/well resulting in the indicated effector/target ratios. To study the underlying mechanisms of NK cell induced tumor cell death, neutralizing anti-FasL (BD Pharmingen), anti-TRAIL (BioVender), or isotype control antibody was added to the co-culture system. To inhibit perforin-mediated cytolysis, CMA (Sigma-Aldrich, Taufkirchen, Germany) was added to the NK cells 2 h prior to co-culture with target cells. The radioactive content of the supernatant was measured in a gamma counter (Berthold, Wildbad, Germany). Specific lysis was determined according to the following formula: specific lysis (%)=100×(Exp−Spo)/(Max−Spo), where Exp is the experimental release, Spo is the spontaneous release, and Max is the maximum release. Assays were Apoptosis inhibitor performed as triplicates/quadruplicates, and data are depicted as means±standard deviation (SD). The experimental design of the Treg cell-NK co-culture experiments is illustrated in the Supporting Information Fig. S1. Student’s t-test for means (two-tailed, paired samples) from at least three individual experiments was used to calculate significance, and p-values equal or below 0.05 were considered as significant. We thank Kirsten Bruderek for her excellent

technical assistance. We also thank Johannes Schulte for his help with the chromium release assays. Antibodies directed against ULBP1, ULBP2, ULBP3, MICA, and MICB were a kind gift from Annette R788 cell line Paschen (UK Essen). Research described in this article was supported in part by the IFORES program

of the Medical Faculty, University Duisburg-Essen (to S. B.) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG 4190/1-1 to C. B.). Conflict of interest: The authors have declared no conflict of interest. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. 3-oxoacyl-(acyl-carrier-protein) reductase They are made available as submitted by the authors. “
“Cyclooxygenase-2 is a promising target for cancer immunotherapy. Here, we designed the analogues p321-9L and p321-1Y9L (YLIGETIKL) from cyclooxygenase-2-derived native peptide p321. Then, we tested the binding affinity and stability of the analogues and their ability to elicit specific immune response both in vitro (from PBMCs of HLA-A*02+ healthy donors) and in vivo (from HLA-A2.1/Kb transgenic mice). Our results indicated that the activity of cytotoxic T lymphocytes induced by p321-9L and p321-1Y9L was more potent than that of p321. In conclusion, the epitope analogue, especially p321-1Y9L, may be a good candidate which could be used to the immunotherapy of patients with tumours expressing cyclooxygenase-2. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) specific for various tumour antigens play an important role in elimination of tumour cells [1, 2].

Previously, we showed that a hydroxyethyl starch colloid in a bal

Previously, we showed that a hydroxyethyl starch colloid in a balanced solution, but not in normal saline, reduced hepatic leukocyte recruitment in a mouse model of early sepsis [29]. Recent clinical trials have raised concerns about the safety of starch products [8], whereas albumin and saline appear equivalent [9]. Accordingly, in this study, our objective was to compare AGP to albumin and normal saline as resuscitation fluids, with respect to the ability of these fluids to dampen the inflammatory response in the liver in

murine models of early endotoxemia and sepsis. All in vivo experiments followed protocols approved by the Animal Research Ethics Board of Health Sciences, McMaster University. Male C57Bl/6 mice (20–25 g) from Taconic

FK506 solubility dmso (Germantown, NY, USA) were used in all of the LY294002 chemical structure experiments. Human AGP was purified from human plasma either prepared from citrated blood drawn from volunteers by trained phlebotomists under the terms of a protocol approved by the Research Ethics Board, Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation, or from units of transfusable plasma obtained at outdate from Canadian Blood Services. AGP purification from plasma was performed as described [23]; briefly, this entailed sulphosalicylic acid precipitation, neutralization of the supernatant, hydroxyapatite and Cibacron blue chromatography. AGP preparations were tested for endotoxin contamination and depyrogenated, as described, until endotoxin levels fell below 5 endotoxin units/kg body weight for all mice treated with this purified plasma protein. Clinically outdated, apyrogenic HAS (Plasmalbulin 5; Bayer Healthcare, Toronto, ON, USA) was the generous gift of Dr. John Kelton, Department of Medicine, McMaster University. Mice were warmed with an infrared heat lamp for 10 minutes and anesthetized with isofluorane. LPS from Escherichia coli type 0127:B8 (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Glutathione peroxidase Louis, MO, USA) in normal

saline, or saline alone (for shams), was injected intraperitoneally at 5 or 100 mg/kg body weight. Statistical review of the responses (leukocyte count and recruitment) of both doses was indistinguishable; therefore, data for both doses were combined in the final analysis. One milliliter of normal saline was injected subcutaneously following LPS administration to ensure adequate hydration of the animals. In some experiments, LPS was injected intravenously at a dose of 0.08 mg/kg body weight. The CLP procedure followed the original report by Baker et al. [1], as modified by us [29]. Briefly, mice were anesthetized with isofluorane and the right jugular vein was cannulated to deliver the fluids. The abdomen was opened and the cecum delivered, ligated, and perforated with an 18-gauge needle.

Independently of CD146, the sSS patients exhibited increased CD31

Independently of CD146, the sSS patients exhibited increased CD31 expression on CD4 and CD8 cells; some showed loss of CD28 from CD4 cells (Supporting information, Fig. S8). Other memory,

adhesion and homing markers were similar to those in HDs. Thus, circulating T cells in the few CTD patients who exhibited phenotypic T cell activation had increased CD146 expression, associated with a broadened range of activation markers. We examined CD146 expression on circulating CD4 and CD8 T cells of HDs and patients with CTDs, and characterized the relationship of Acalabrutinib ic50 CD146 with surface markers associated with activation, memory, adhesion and homing. As expected, CD146 expression correlated with some activation and memory markers, but unexpected differences between CD4 and CD8 T cells were observed. CD146 on T cells was increased in a small number of patients with sSS, all of whom exhibited systemic T cell activation, but not in patients with other CTDs, who did not. Previous work has shown CD146 induction by phytohaemagglutinin-activated T cells [3, 7]. We found that stimulation of HD T cells with anti-CD3/anti-CD28, a more physiological stimulus, up-regulated CD146 expression with slower kinetics and longer persistence than CD69, but similar to CD25. Both activated CD4 and CD8 T cells expressed

CD146. Ex vivo, however, the relationship of CD146 expression to T cell activation was more complex. BMN 673 in vitro CD146-expressing CD4 T cells contained a greater proportion of activated-phenotype cells than bulk CD4 Fludarabine purchase T cells (OX40+, CD69+ and low-level

CD25 expression). Within the CD4 subset, the CD146+ population comprised almost exclusively CD45RO+/RA–/CD28+ non-senescent memory cells, and was enriched in CD27− cells, suggesting repeated activation. Nevertheless, the correlation with activation was not absolute: most activated cells lacked CD146, and no single marker correlated perfectly with CD146 expression. Thus, CD4 T cell activation in vivo does not induce CD146 expression as uniformly as it does in vitro. This could partly reflect differences in the timing of expression of activation markers post-stimulation but suggests that physiological stimuli induce CD146 expression more selectively than is recapitulated in vitro. A few CD146+CD4 T cells are FoxP3+ CD25high, consistent with a Treg phenotype, but FoxP3 can be expressed by human activated effector T cells and additional markers would be required to address this definitively [33]. Previous work has reported similar findings, albeit with fewer markers analysed in individual donors [7]. Unexpectedly, the association of CD146 with activation and memory ex vivo was less marked in CD8 T cells. In HD CD8 cells, CD146-expressing cells were less frequent than in CD4 cells; of the activation markers studied, only CD69 was enriched significantly in CD146+ CD8 cells.

05 were assumed to

be significant in all analyses The au

05 were assumed to

be significant in all analyses. The authors thank Michelle Connole, Jackie Gillis, Yi Apitolisib molecular weight Yu, and Jacqueline Stallworth for expert technical assistance; as well as Kay Lee Summerville and the staff of the Yerkes National Primate Center, Emory University for chimpanzee blood samples. This research was supported by the French National AIDS Research Agency (ANRS), NIH grants U19 AI028147, AI062412, AI071306, AI090735, and RR00168 as well as a CHAVI/HVTN Early Career Investigator award, grant number U19 AI 067854-04, to R.K.R. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no financial or commercial conflicts of interest. “
“There is a limited understanding how of lung cancer cells evade cytotoxic attack. Previously, we have shown reduced production of the cytotoxic mediator granzyme B by CD8+ T cells in lung cancer tissue. MK-1775 nmr We hypothesized that lung cancer would be further associated with decreased production of granzyme B, perforin and proinflammatory cytokines by other cytotoxic lymphocytes, natural killer (NK) T-like and NK cells, and that this would result from soluble mediators released by the cancer cells. Lung cancer and non-cancer tissue from five patients was identified by experienced pathologists. Tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interferon (IFN)-γ, granzyme B and perforin were measured in CD4 and

CD8+ T, NK T-like cells and NK cells by flow cytometry. Correlation between cancer stage and granzyme B was analysed retrospectively for 21 patients. The effects of soluble factors released by lung cancer cells on production of cytotoxic mediators and cytokines was assessed, and the role

of prostaglandin E2 (PGE)2/COX investigated using indomethacin inhibition. There were significantly decreased percentages of T, NK T-like and NK cells expressing perforin, TNF-α and IFN-γ in cancer versus non-cancer tissue, and of CD8+ T cells and CD8+ NK T-like cells expressing granzyme B (e.g. NK T-like cells: non-cancer Florfenicol 30% ± 7 versus cancer 6% ± 2·5). Cancer cells released soluble factors that inhibited granzyme B, perforin and IFN-γ production that was partially associated with the PGE2/COX2 pathway. Thus, lung cancer is associated with decreased expression of granzyme B, perforin and IFN-γ by infiltrating T cells, NK T-like and NK cells, possibly as a result of soluble factors produced by the cancer cells including PGE2. This may be an important immune evasion mechanism. “
“Natural killer (NK) cell functions are regulated by a delicate balance of signals received through activating and inhibitory receptors expressed on the cell surface. Lectin-like transcript-1 (LLT1), expressed on a subpopulation of NK cells and other immune cells is a ligand for the NK cell inhibitory receptor, NKR-P1A (CD161). Previous studies showed that cross-linking surface LLT1 with a monoclonal antibody stimulated NK cell IFN-γ secretion but had no effect on cytotoxicity.