Neutralization of (NK-cell-derived) B-cell activating factor by Belimumab restores sensitivity of chronic lymphoid leukemia cells to direct and Rituximab-induced NK lysis.

Natural killer (NK) cells are cytotoxic lymphocytes that substantially contribute to the therapeutic benefit of antitumor antibodies like Rituximab, a crucial component in the treatment of B-cell malignancies. In chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the ability of NK cells to lyse the malignant cells and to mediate antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity upon Fc receptor stimulation is compromised, but the underlying mechanisms are largely unclear. We report here that NK-cells activation-dependently produce the tumor necrosis factor family member 'B-cell activating factor' (BAFF) in soluble form with no detectable surface expression, also in response to Fc receptor triggering by therapeutic CD20-antibodies. BAFF in turn enhanced the metabolic activity of primary CLL cells and impaired direct and Rituximab-induced lysis of CLL cells without affecting NK reactivity per se. The neutralizing BAFF antibody Belimumab, which is approved for treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus, prevented the effects of BAFF on the metabolism of CLL cells and restored their susceptibility to direct and Rituximab-induced NK-cell killing in allogeneic and autologous experimental systems. Our findings unravel the involvement of BAFF in the resistance of CLL cells to NK-cell antitumor immunity and Rituximab treatment and point to a benefit of combinatory approaches employing BAFF-neutralizing drugs in B-cell malignancies

Measurement of the charged-pion polarisability

The COMPASS collaboration at CERN has investigated pion Compton scattering, $\pi^-\gamma\rightarrow \pi^-\gamma$, at centre-of-mass energy below 3.5 pion masses. The process is embedded in the reaction $\pi^-\mathrm{Ni}\rightarrow\pi^-\gamma\;\mathrm{Ni}$, which is initiated by 190\,GeV pions impinging on a nickel target. The exchange of quasi-real photons is selected by isolating the sharp Coulomb peak observed at smallest momentum transfers, $Q^2<0.0015$\,(GeV/$c$)$^2$. From a sample of 63\,000 events the pion electric polarisability is determined to be $\alpha_\pi\ =\ (\,2.0\ \pm\ 0.6_{\mbox{\scriptsize stat}}\ \pm\ 0.7_{\mbox{\scriptsize syst}}\,) \times 10^{-4}\,\mbox{fm}^3$under the assumption$\alpha_\pi=-\beta_\pi$, which relates the electric and magnetic dipole polarisabilities. It is the most precise measurement of this fundamental low-energy parameter of strong interaction, that has been addressed since long by various methods with conflicting outcomes. While this result is in tension with previous dedicated measurements, it is found in agreement with the expectation from chiral perturbation theory. An additional measurement replacing pions by muons, for which the cross-section behavior is unambigiously known, was performed for an independent estimate of the systematic uncertainty.Comment: Published version: 9 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Transverse-momentum-dependent Multiplicities of Charged Hadrons in Muon-Deuteron Deep Inelastic Scattering

A semi-inclusive measurement of charged hadron multiplicities in deep inelastic muon scattering off an isoscalar target was performed using data collected by the COMPASS Collaboration at CERN. The following kinematic domain is covered by the data: photon virtuality $Q^{2}>1$ (GeV/$c$)$^2$, invariant mass of the hadronic system $W > 5$ GeV/$c^2$, Bjorken scaling variable in the range $0.003 < x < 0.4$, fraction of the virtual photon energy carried by the hadron in the range $0.2 < z < 0.8$, square of the hadron transverse momentum with respect to the virtual photon direction in the range 0.02 (GeV/$c)^2 < P_{\rm{hT}}^{2} < 3$ (GeV/$c$)$^2$. The multiplicities are presented as a function of $P_{\rm{hT}}^{2}$ in three-dimensional bins of $x$, $Q^2$, $z$ and compared to previous semi-inclusive measurements. We explore the small-$P_{\rm{hT}}^{2}$ region, i.e. $P_{\rm{hT}}^{2} < 1$ (GeV/$c$)$^2$, where hadron transverse momenta are expected to arise from non-perturbative effects, and also the domain of larger $P_{\rm{hT}}^{2}$, where contributions from higher-order perturbative QCD are expected to dominate. The multiplicities are fitted using a single-exponential function at small $P_{\rm{hT}}^{2}$ to study the dependence of the average transverse momentum $\langle P_{\rm{hT}}^{2}\rangle$ on $x$, $Q^2$ and $z$. The power-law behaviour of the multiplicities at large $P_{\rm{hT}}^{2}$ is investigated using various functional forms. The fits describe the data reasonably well over the full measured range.Comment: 28 pages, 20 figure

Collins and Sivers asymmetries in muonproduction of pions and kaons off transversely polarised proton

Measurements of the Collins and Sivers asymmetries for charged pions and charged and neutral kaons produced in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering of high energy muons off transversely polarised protons are presented. The results were obtained using all the available COMPASS proton data, which were taken in the years 2007 and 2010. The Collins asymmetries exhibit in the valence region a non-zero signal for pions and there are hints of non-zero signal also for kaons. The Sivers asymmetries are found to be positive for positive pions and kaons and compatible with zero otherwise.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures and 1 tabl

Spin alignment and violation of the OZI rule in exclusive ω\omega and ϕ\phi production in pp collisions

Exclusive production of the isoscalar vector mesons $\omega$ and $\phi$ is measured with a 190 GeV$/c$ proton beam impinging on a liquid hydrogen target. Cross section ratios are determined in three intervals of the Feynman variable $x_{F}$ of the fast proton. A significant violation of the OZI rule is found, confirming earlier findings. Its kinematic dependence on $x_{F}$ and on the invariant mass $M_{p\mathrm{V}}$ of the system formed by fast proton $p_\mathrm{fast}$ and vector meson $V$ is discussed in terms of diffractive production of $p_\mathrm{fast}V$ resonances in competition with central production. The measurement of the spin density matrix element $\rho_{00}$ of the vector mesons in different selected reference frames provides another handle to distinguish the contributions of these two major reaction types. Again, dependences of the alignment on $x_{F}$ and on $M_{p\mathrm{V}}$ are found. Most of the observations can be traced back to the existence of several excited baryon states contributing to $\omega$ production which are absent in the case of the $\phi$ meson. Removing the low-mass $M_{p\mathrm{V}}$ resonant region, the OZI rule is found to be violated by a factor of eight, independently of $x_\mathrm{F}$.Comment: 23 pages, 13 figures and 5 table

The Spin Structure Function g1pg_1^{\rm p} of the Proton and a Test of the Bjorken Sum Rule

New results for the double spin asymmetry $A_1^{\rm p}$ and the proton longitudinal spin structure function $g_1^{\rm p}$ are presented. They were obtained by the COMPASS collaboration using polarised 200 GeV muons scattered off a longitudinally polarised NH$_3$ target. The data were collected in 2011 and complement those recorded in 2007 at 160\,GeV, in particular at lower values of $x$. They improve the statistical precision of $g_1^{\rm p}(x)$ by about a factor of two in the region $x\lesssim 0.02$. A next-to-leading order QCD fit to the $g_1$ world data is performed. It leads to a new determination of the quark spin contribution to the nucleon spin, $\Delta \Sigma$ ranging from 0.26 to 0.36, and to a re-evaluation of the first moment of $g_1^{\rm p}$. The uncertainty of $\Delta \Sigma$ is mostly due to the large uncertainty in the present determinations of the gluon helicity distribution. A new evaluation of the Bjorken sum rule based on the COMPASS results for the non-singlet structure function $g_1^{\rm NS}(x,Q^2)$ yields as ratio of the axial and vector coupling constants $|g_{\rm A}/g_{\rm V}| = 1.22 \pm 0.05~({\rm stat.}) \pm 0.10~({\rm syst.})$, which validates the sum rule to an accuracy of about 9\%.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures and table

Search for exclusive photoproduction of Zc±_c^{\pm}(3900) at COMPASS

A search for the exclusive production of the $Z_c^{\pm}(3900)$ hadron by virtual photons has been performed in the channel $Z_c^{\pm}(3900)\rightarrow J/\psi \pi^{\pm}$. The data cover the range from 7 GeV to 19 GeV in the centre-of-mass energy of the photon-nucleon system. The full set of the COMPASS data set collected with a muon beam between 2002 and 2011 has been used. An upper limit for the ratio $BR(Z_c^{\pm}(3900)\rightarrow J/\psi \pi^{\pm} )\times \sigma_{ \gamma~N \rightarrow Z_c^{\pm}(3900)~ N} /\sigma_{\gamma~N \rightarrow J/\psi~ N}$ of $3.7\times10^{-3}$ has been established at the confidence level of 90%.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl