Search results for "Immune system"
showing 10 items of 2885 documents
EXTRACELLULAR VESCICLES DERIVED FROM GUT MICROBIOTA IN INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE AND COLORECTAL CANCER
2021
The human gut microbiome encompasses inter alia, the myriad bacterial species that create the optimal host-micro-organism balance essential for normal metabolic and immune function. Various lines of evidence suggest that dys-regulation of the microbiota-host interaction is linked to pathologies such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC). Extracellular vesicles (EVs), found in virtually all body fluids and produced by both eukaryotic cells and bacteria are involved in cell-cell communication and crosstalk mechanisms, such as the immune response, barrier function and intestinal flora. This review highlights advancements in knowledge of the functional role that EVs ma…
Cytokines in Colitis-Associated Cancer: Potential Drug Targets?
2008
In inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), such as UC and CD, the development of colorectal carcinoma can be initiated through chronic inflammation, depending on the duration and severity of the disease. Growing evidence supports a role for various cytokines, released by epithelial and immune cells, in the pathogenesis of colitis associated cancer (CAC). For instance, TNF-alpha has been recently shown to promote tumor development in experimental colitis. Due to its role in the pathogenesis of IBD, TNF-alpha blockade has become one of the cornerstones of IBD therapy. Thus, anti-TNF-alpha strategies could also provide effective anti-tumor therapies. TGF-beta has been shown to attenuate an anti-tumo…
Mucosal immunology and probiotics.
2013
The cross-talk between the mucosa-associated immune system and microbiota is critical in mucosal tissue homeostasis as well as in protection against infectious and inflammatory diseases occurring at mucosal sites. This recent evidence has paved the way to therapeutic approaches aimed at modulating the mucosa-associated immune system using probiotics. Different strains of probiotics possess the ability to finely regulate dendritic cell (DC) activation, polarizing the subsequent T cell activity toward Th1 (e.g. Lactobacillus (Lb) acidophilus), Th2 (Lb.reuteri and Bifidobacterium bifidum) or, as more recently demonstrated, Th17 responses induced by specific strains such as Lb.rhamnosus GG and …
Genomic architecture and sexually dimorphic expression underlying immunity in the red mason bee, Osmia bicornis
2021
AbstractInsect pollinators provide crucial ecosystem services yet face increasing environmental pressures. The challenges posed by novel and reemerging pathogens on bee health means we need to improve our understanding of the immune system, an important barrier to infections and disease. Despite its importance, for certain ecologically important species, such as solitary bees, our understanding of the genomic basis and molecular mechanisms underlying immune potential, and how intrinsic and extrinsic factors may influence immune gene expression is lacking. Here, to improve our understanding of the genomic architecture underlying immunity of a key solitary bee pollinator, we characterised put…
Enzymatic alteration of C1q, the collagen-like subcomponent of the first component of complement, leads to cross-reactivity with type II collagen
1988
AbstractNative serum C1q, the collagenous-like subcomponent of the first component of complement, is not recognized by polyclonal anti-collagen type II antibodies. However, when purified C1q was subjected to limited proteolysis by collagenase it showed antigenic cross-reactivity with collagen type II. The same cross-reactivity was observed with hemolytically active C1q in synovial fluids of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), whereas C1q from synovial fluids of patients with osteoarthritis (OA), villo-nodular synovitis and ankylosing spondylitis was not recognized by this antibody. However, incubation of synovial fluid C1q of OA patients with synovial fluid leucocytes from RA patients …
Evidence for the presence of autoantibodies to the collagen-like portion of C1q in systemic lupus erythematosus.
1988
We investigated the connection between the C1q solid-phase binding assay (C1q SPBA) and double-stranded DNA antibodies, and analyzed the immune complex material in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) sera. Comparison with a new monoclonal assay for C1q-bearing immune complexes (the 242G3 assay) revealed that the immune complexes in SLE bind specifically to solid-phase C1q, and not to fluid-phase C1q. The C1q solid-phase binding activity sedimented as 7S IgG, was insensitive to DNase treatment, and could be selectively absorbed by C1q-coupled beads and by bovine serum albumin-anti-bovine serum albumin C1q beads, but not by DNA. Thus, antibodies to double-stranded DNA do not interfere in the C…
Combined complete C5 and partial C4 deficiency in humans: clinical consequences and complement-mediated functions in vitro.
1990
A family is described with two siblings who suffered at different times from a single episode of meningococcal meningitis by Neisseria meningitidis groups B and C, respectively. In the two subjects, hemolytically active fifth component of complement (C5) was not detectable and antigenic C5 was less than 0.05% and less than 0.7% of normal, respectively. Repletion of sera by purified human C5 (70 micrograms/ml) restored total complement hemolytic activities. The asymptomatic first degree family members had C5 levels compatible with a heterozygous state of C5 deficiency. C4 allotyping revealed an inherited partial deficiency (Q0) of C4A and C4B in the family with a combined C4AQ0 and C4BQ0 het…
Comparative evaluation of molecular methods for the quantitative measure of torquetenovirus (TTV) viremia, the new surrogate marker of immune compete…
2019
Background Torquetenovirus (TTV) viremia is emerging as a promising tool to assess functional immune competence, to predict posttransplant immune-related complications, and eventually to customize immunosuppression. Methods In this study, 327 blood samples were tested using two real-time PCR (rtPCR) assays both targeted to the untranslated region of the TTV genome. The first assay was an in-house rtPCR developed by our group, the second one was the recently marketed TTV R-GENE assay. Results In the validation study, the TTV R-GENE showed good performances in precision and reproducibility, and sensitivity as low as 12 TTV DNA copies/mL, like previously reported for the in-house rtPCR. The Bl…
Organization and evolution of synthetic idiotypic networks
2012
We introduce a class of weighted graphs whose properties are meant to mimic the topological features of idiotypic networks, namely the interaction networks involving the B-core of the immune system. Each node is endowed with a bit-string representing the idiotypic specificity of the corresponding B cell and a proper distance between any couple of bit-strings provides the coupling strength between the two nodes. We show that a biased distribution of the entries in bit-strings can yield fringes in the (weighted) degree distribution, small-worlds features, and scaling laws, in agreement with experimental findings. We also investigate the role of ageing, thought of as a progressive increase in …
Does abdominal obesity influence immunological response to SARS-CoV-2 infection?
2021
Several hundred studies, 40 systematic reviews, and nearly 20 meta-analyses had been published by early 2021, confirming an increased need for medical services for people living with overweight or ...