Search results for "immunity"
showing 10 items of 1537 documents
Innate Immune Cells' Contribution to Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
2019
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by the presence of autoantibodies against nuclear antigens, immune complex deposition, and tissue damage in the kidneys, skin, heart and lung. Because of the pathogenic role of antinuclear antibodies and autoreactive T cells in SLE, extensive efforts have been made to demonstrate how B cells act as antibody-producing or as antigen-presenting cells that can prime autoreactive T cell activation. With the discovery of new innate immune cells and inflammatory mediators, innate immunity is emerging as a key player in disease pathologies. Recent work over the last decade has highlighted the importance of innate immun…
Heat-Shock Proteins in Autoimmunity
2013
Heat shock proteins (HSPs), also known as “stress proteins,” are among the highly conserved and immunogenic proteins shared among diverse groups of microbial agents and mammals [1]. Heat and other types of stressful stimuli can increase the cellular expression of HSPs. These proteins have been categorized into different families according to their molecular mass, for example, HSP110, HSP90, HSP70, HSP60, HSP40, HSP20-30, and HSP10 [1–3]. For uniformity, guidelines for the nomenclature of various human HSP families have been proposed [4]. Under physiological conditions, the ubiquitously distributed HSPs maintain the integrity and function of other cellular proteins in stressful conditions. H…
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.
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…
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…
HLA-Class II Artificial Antigen Presenting Cells in CD4+ T Cell-Based Immunotherapy
2019
CD4+ T cells differentiate into various T helper subsets characterized by distinct cytokine secreting profiles that confer them effector functions adapted to a variety of infectious or endogenous threats. Regulatory CD4+ T cells are another specialized subset that plays a fundamental role in the maintenance of immune tolerance to self-antigens. Manipulating effector or regulatory CD4+ T cells responses is a promising immunotherapy strategy for, respectively, chronical viral infections and cancer, or severe autoimmune diseases and transplantation. Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) is an emerging approach that necessitates defining robust and efficient methods for the in vitro expansion of antigen-…
How the knowledge of interactions between meningococcus and the human immune system has been used to prepare effective Neisseria meningitidis vaccines
2015
In the last decades, tremendous advancement in dissecting the mechanisms of pathogenicity ofNeisseria meningitidisat a molecular level has been achieved, exploiting converging approaches of different disciplines, ranging from pathology to microbiology, immunology, and omics sciences (such as genomics and proteomics). Here, we review the molecular biology of the infectious agent and, in particular, its interactions with the immune system, focusing on both the innate and the adaptive responses. Meningococci exploit different mechanisms and complex machineries in order to subvert the immune system and to avoid being killed. Capsular polysaccharide and lipooligosaccharide glycan composition, in…
Antigen-specific T cells and cytokines detection as useful tool for understanding immunity against zoonotic infections.
2012
Zoonoses include a broad range of diseases, that are becoming of great interest, due to the climate changing, that cause the adaptation of vectors to new niches and environments. Host immune responses play a crucial role in determining the outcome of infections, as documented by expansion of antigen-specific T cells during several zoonotic infections. Thus, understanding of the contribution of antigen-specific T-cell subsets in the host immune response is a powerful tool to evaluate the different immunological mechanisms involved in zoonotic infections and for the development of effective vaccines. In this paper we discuss the role of T cells in some eukaryotic and prokaryotic infectious mo…
Neuro-endocrine networks controlling immune system in health and disease
2014
The nervous and immune systems have long been considered as compartments that perform separate and different functions. However, recent clinical, epidemiological, and experimental data have suggested that the pathogenesis of several immune-mediated disorders, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), might involve factors, hormones, and neural mediators that link the immune and nervous system. These molecules are members of the same superfamily, which allow the mutual and bi-directional neural–immune interaction. More recently, the discovery of leptin, one of the most abundant adipocyte-derived hormones that control food intake and metabolism, has suggested that nutritional/metabolic status, acting …
Mechanisms of immunosenescence
2009
Abstract On April 7,8, 2009 a Symposium entitled "Pathophysiology of Successful and Unsuccessful Ageing" took place in Palermo, Italy. Here, the lectures of G. Pawelec, D. Dunn-Walters and. G. Colonna-Romano on T and B immunosenescence are summarized. In the elderly, many alterations of both innate and acquired immunity have been described. Alterations to the immune system in the older person are generally viewed as a deterioration of immunity, leading to the use of the catch-all term immunosenescence. Indeed, many immunological parameters are often markedly different in elderly compared to young people, and some, mostly circumstantial, evidence suggests that retained function of both innat…