Search results for "81.60"
showing 10 items of 308 documents
Neutrophils: Between host defence, immune modulation, and tissue injury.
2015
Neutrophils, the most abundant human immune cells, are rapidly recruited to sites of infection, where they fulfill their life-saving antimicrobial functions. While traditionally regarded as short-lived phagocytes, recent findings on long-term survival, neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation, heterogeneity and plasticity, suppressive functions, and tissue injury have expanded our understanding of their diverse role in infection and inflammation. This review summarises our current understanding of neutrophils in host-pathogen interactions and disease involvement, illustrating the versatility and plasticity of the neutrophil, moving between host defence, immune modulation, and tissue da…
Are Toll-like receptors and decoy receptors involved in the immunopathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus and lupus-like syndromes?
2011
In this paper we focus our attention on the role of two families of receptors, Toll-like receptors (TLR) and decoy receptors (DcR) involved in the generation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and lupus-like syndromes in human and mouse models. To date, these molecules were described in several autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, antiphospholipids syndrome, bowel inflammation, and SLE. Here, we summarize the findings of recent investigations on TLR and DcR and their role in the immunopathogenesis of the SLE.
CD11b Regulates Fungal Outgrowth but Not Neutrophil Recruitment in a Mouse Model of Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis
2019
Abstract Background and Aims: In immunosuppressed individuals Aspergillus (A.) fumigatus is a frequent cause of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) which is highly associated with relevant morbidity and mortality. Moreover, it often occurs in patients suffering from leukocyte-adhesion deficiency type 1 (LAD1) which is triggered by a functional loss of CD18 in ß2 integrin receptors as these receptors consist of an alpha subunit (CD11a-CD11d) and CD18 as the common beta subunit. ß2 integrin receptors are differentially expressed by leukocytes, and are required for cell-cell interaction, transendothelial migration, uptake of opsonized pathogens, and cell signaling processes. Here, we asked …
Prediction of Specific TCR-Peptide Binding From Large Dictionaries of TCR-Peptide Pairs
2019
Abstract The T cell repertoire is composed of T cell receptors (TCR) selected by their cognate MHC-peptides and naive TCR that do not bind known peptides. While the task of distinguishing a peptide-binding TCR from a naive TCR unlikely to bind any peptide can be performed using sequence motifs, distinguishing between TCRs binding different peptides requires more advanced methods. Such a prediction is the key for using TCR repertoires as disease-specific biomarkers. We here used large scale TCR-peptide dictionaries with state-of-the-art natural language processing (NLP) methods to produce ERGO (pEptide tcR matchinG predictiOn), a highly specific classifier to predict which TCR binds to which…
Tiotropium in asthma: Back to the future of anticholinergic treatment
2017
Abstract Asthma is among the most common chronic diseases worldwide; however, despite progresses in the understanding of the patho-physiological mechanisms and advances in the development of new therapeutic options and strategies, the disease remains uncontrolled in a not trivial proportion of subjects. Thus, the need of new molecules to treat the underlying biological and functional abnormalities and to control symptoms is strongly advocated by clinicians. In this scenario, the most recent GINA guidelines have included the use of tiotropium bromide in the most severe and uncontrolled forms of the disease, in addition to treatment with inhaled corticosteroid plus long acting beta adrenergic…
Genetics of longevity. Data from the studies on Sicilian centenarians
2012
Abstract The demographic and social changes of the past decades have determined improvements in public health and longevity. So, the number of centenarians is increasing as a worldwide phenomenon. Scientists have focused their attention on centenarians as optimal model to address the biological mechanisms of "successful and unsuccessful ageing". They are equipped to reach the extreme limits of human life span and, most importantly, to show relatively good health, being able to perform their routine daily life and to escape fatal age-related diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Thus, particular attention has been centered on their genetic background and immune system. In thi…
Immunological Monitoring to Rationally Guide AAV Gene Therapy
2013
Recent successes with adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapies fuel the hope for new treatments for hereditary diseases. Pre-existing as well as therapy-induced immune responses against both AAV and the encoded transgenes have been described and may impact on safety and efficacy of gene-therapy approaches. Consequently, monitoring of vector- and transgene-specific immunity is mandated and may rationally guide clinical development. Next to the humoral immune response, the cellular response is central in our understanding of the host reaction in gene therapy. But in contrast to the monitoring of antibodies, which has matured over many decades, sensitive and robust monitoring of T cel…
The application of genetics approaches to the study of exceptional longevity in humans: Potential and limitations
2012
Abstract The average life-span of the population of industrialized countries has improved enormously over the last decades. Despite evidence pointing to the role of food intake in modulating life-span, exceptional longevity is still considered primarily an inheritable trait, as pointed out by the description of families with centenarian clusters and by the elevated relative probability of siblings of centenarians to become centenarians themselves. However, rather than being two separate concepts, the genetic origin of exceptional longevity and the more recently observed environment-driven increase in the average age of the population could possibly be explained by the same genetic variants …
Pathophysiology of vascular dementia.
2009
The concept of Vascular Dementia (VaD) has been recognized for over a century, but its definition and diagnostic criteria remain unclear.Conventional definitions identify the patients too late, miss subjects with cognitive impairment short of dementia, and emphasize consequences rather than causes, the true bases for treatment and prevention. We should throw out current diagnostic categories and describe cognitive impairment clinically and according to commonly agreed instruments that document the demographic data in a standardized manner and undertake a systematic effort to identify the underlying aetiology in each case.Increased effort should be targeted towards the concept of and criteri…
Report from the second cytomegalovirus and immunosenescence workshop
2011
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.; International audience; The Second International Workshop on CMV & Immunosenescence was held in Cambridge, UK, 2-4th December, 2010. The presentations covered four separate sessions: cytomegalovirus and T cell phenotypes; T cell memory frequency, inflation and immunosenescence; cytomegalovirus in aging, mortality and disease states; and the immunobiology of cytomegalovirus-specific T cells and effects of the virus on vacc…