Characterization of tumor-directed cellular immune responses in humans

Understanding tumor/host immune interactions may help to fight cancer. Growing knowledge about T cell responses and increasing success of immunotherapeutic approaches have created the need for methods to characterize tumor-directed cellular immune responses. The spectrum of methods reaches from protein-based methods, including tetramers or intracellular flow cytometry, to genetic assays, such as TCR analysis or microarray techniques, further on to functional assays analysing proliferation and microtoxicity. Here, we describe these and further methods and explain their respective application in human tumor immunology

Sulfur-driven autotrophic denitrification: Diversity, biochemistry, and engineering applications

Sulfur-driven autotrophic denitrification refers to the chemolithotrophic process coupling denitrification with the oxidation of reduced inorganic sulfur compounds. Ever since 1904, when Thiobacillus denitrificans was isolated, autotrophic denitrifiers and their uncultured close relatives have been continuously identified from highly diverse ecosystems including hydrothermal vents, deep sea redox transition zones, sediments, soils, inland soda lakes, etc. Currently, 14 valid described species within α-, β-, γ-, and ε-Proteobacteria have been identified as capable of autotrophic denitrification. Autotrophic denitrification is also widely applied in environmental engineering for the removal of sulfide and nitrate from different water environments. This review summarizes recent researches on autotrophic denitrification, highlighting its diversity, metabolic traits, and engineering applications. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.link_to_subscribed_fulltex