Heliodorus' reading of Lucian's Toxaris

This article demonstrates that Cnemon’s story in Heliodorus’ Aethiopica intertexts with the novella of Deinias in Lucian’s Toxaris. The closeness of three textual parallels, along with a subtle use of characters’ names, proves that Heliodorus is deliberately recalling Toxaris. The focus of this intertextuality is Chariclea, the courtesan of Deinias’ story. This immoral figure is a striking counterpart to the lustful Demaenete, the main character of Cnemon’s story and the first immoral lover of the Aethiopica. At the same time, the evocation by Heliodorus of a lustful woman who has the same name as the protagonist Chariclea, paradoxically enriches the characterization of the latter as chaste. Furthermore, this subtle evocation of Chariclea seems to have metaliterary implications as well. In the Aethiopica Chariclea stands for the entire novel: Heliodorus appears to define the nature of his text in opposition to Lucian’s Toxaris and to the different kind of fiction it represents. Heliodorus’ definition of his own novel by means of establishing a contrast with other texts is an important function of his intertextuality with Imperial literature and possibly sheds new light on the status of ancient fiction as a whole

Heliodorus's Aethiopica and the Odyssean Mnesterophonia: an intermedial reading

The opening scene of Heliodorus’s Aethiopica has a special ekphrastic quality, and scholars have noted that its tragic banquet recalls the Mnesterophonia in Homer’s Odyssey. I argue that Heliodorus’s banquet is not only a literary remaking of the Odyssean episode but also an account that stresses its pictorial quality. This new reading is suggested by the vividness of the description and by the echoes of drinking vessels and tables, the two distinctive features of the iconography of the Mnesterophonia, which was likely to be known in Heliodorus’s time (third-fourth centuries c.e.)

Aelius Aristides’ Sacred Tales: A Study of the Creation of the “Narrative about Asclepius”

Aelius Aristides’ Sacred Tales is a complex literary text, and its first book—the diary—puzzles scholars, as it has no parallel in the entire work. This paper offers a justification for this section by arguing for a deliberate contrast between the diary and Books 2–6 of the Sacred Tales, as a result of which the latter section is crafted as a narrative about Asclepius. I will first identify a large series of shifts in the ST: starting with Book 2, change concerns the protagonist, which from Aristides’ abdomen turns to Asclepius, the narrator, dream interpretation, genre, and arrangement of the events. Secondly, I discuss the impact of these shifts upon the readers’ response: while the diary invites the readers to relive the everyday tension between known past and unknown future, the spatial form of Books 2–6 creates the opposite effect, turning the readers’ attention away from the human flow of time towards Asclepius, and leading them to perceive features of his divine time

Mucosal delivery of anti-inflammatory IL-1Ra by sporulating recombinant bacteria

BACKGROUND: Mucosal delivery of therapeutic protein drugs or vaccines is actively investigated, in order to improve bioavailability and avoid side effects associated with systemic administration. Orally administered bacteria, engineered to produce anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-10, IL-1Ra), have shown localised ameliorating effects in inflammatory gastro-intestinal conditions. However, the possible systemic effects of mucosally delivered recombinant bacteria have not been investigated. RESULTS: B. subtilis was engineered to produce the mature human IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra). When recombinant B. subtilis was instilled in the distal colon of rats or rabbits, human IL-1Ra was found both in the intestinal lavage and in the serum of treated animals. The IL-1Ra protein in serum was intact and biologically active. IL-1-induced fever, neutrophilia, hypoglycemia and hypoferremia were inhibited in a dose-dependent fashion by intra-colon administration of IL-1Ra-producing B. subtilis. In the mouse, intra-peritoneal treatment with recombinant B. subtilis could inhibit endotoxin-induced shock and death. Instillation in the rabbit colon of another recombinant B. subtilis strain, which releases bioactive human recombinant IL-1β upon autolysis, could induce fever and eventually death, similarly to parenteral administration of high doses of IL-1β. CONCLUSIONS: A novel system of controlled release of pharmacologically active proteins is described, which exploits bacterial autolysis in a non-permissive environment. Mucosal administration of recombinant B. subtilis causes the release of cytoplasmic recombinant proteins, which can then be found in serum and exert their biological activity in vivo systemically

Targeting Inhibition of Accumulation and Function of Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells by Artemisinin via PI3K/AKT, mTOR, and MAPK Pathways Enhances Anti-PD-L1 Immunotherapy in Melanoma and Liver Tumors

Despite the remarkable success and efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy such as anti-PD-L1 antibody in treating cancers, myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) that lead to the formation of the protumor immunosuppressive microenvironment are one of the major contributors to ICB resistance. Therefore, inhibition of MDSC accumulation and function is critical for further enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of anti-PD-L1 antibody in a majority of cancer patients. Artemisinin (ART), the most effective antimalarial drug with tumoricidal and immunoregulatory activities, is a potential option for cancer treatment. Although ART is reported to reduce MDSC levels in 4T1 breast tumor model and improve the therapeutic efficacy of anti-PD-L1 antibody in T cell lymphoma-bearing mice, how ART influences MDSC accumulation, function, and molecular pathways as well as MDSC-mediated anti-PD-L1 resistance in melanoma or liver tumors remains unknown. Here, we reported that ART blocks the accumulation and function of MDSCs by polarizing M2-like tumor-promoting phenotype towards M1-like antitumor one. This switch is regulated via PI3K/AKT, mTOR, and MAPK signaling pathways. Targeting MDSCs by ART could significantly reduce tumor growth in various mouse models. More importantly, the ART therapy remarkably enhanced the efficacy of anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy in tumor-bearing mice through promoting antitumor T cell infiltration and proliferation. These findings indicate that ART controls the functional polarization of MDSCs and targeting MDSCs by ART provides a novel therapeutic strategy to enhance anti-PD-L1 cancer immunotherapy

Commentary on the first book of the "Ephesiaca" of Xenophon of Ephesus

Most of the previous studies of the novel of Xenophon of Ephesus have pointed out its apparent lack of literary quality and consistency, coming to the conclusion that the version we have is an epitome. Conversely, my commentary offers a new interpretation of the "Ephesiaca" as a Bildungsroman, in which there is a progress from a physical conception of love to a more spiritual one, along with a systematic use of the two most important hypotexts of the genre: Homer's Odyssey and Plato's love dialogues.Le "Efesiache" di Senofonte Efesio sono da sempre state considerate dagli studiosi del mondo antico un testo privo di qualità letteraria e di una coerenza interna. Per questo motivo, dalla fine dell'Ottocento si è diffusa la teoria che il testo che abbiamo non sia l'originale, ma una tarda epitome dell'opera scritta da Senofonte. Il mio commento offre una nuova interpretazione dell'opera come un "Romanzo di formazione", in cui i protagonisti sono introdotti alla scoperta di Eros e delle sue dimensioni fisiche e soprattutto spirituali. Questa traiettoria viene costruita da Senofonte attraverso un costante e talvolta sorprendente uso dell'Odissea e dei dialoghi amore platonici: tale fatto conferma la letterarietà e l'originalità di questo testo