Enhancing Natural Killer and CD8 + T Cell-Mediated Anticancer Cytotoxicity and Proliferation of CD8 + T Cells with HLA-E Monospecific Monoclonal Antibodies

Cytotoxic NK/CD8+ T cells interact with MHC-I ligands on tumor cells through either activating or inhibiting receptors. One of the inhibitory receptors is CD94/NKG2A. The NK/CD8+ T cell cytotoxic capability is lost when tumor-associated human leukocyte antigen, HLA-E, binds the CD94/NKG2A receptor, resulting in tumor progression and reduced survival. Failure of cancer patients to respond to natural killer (NK) cell therapies could be due to HLA-E overexpression in tumor tissues. Preventing the inhibitory receptor-ligand interaction by either receptor- or ligand-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) is an innovative passive immunotherapeutic strategy for cancer. Since receptors and ligands can be monomeric or homo- or heterodimeric proteins, the efficacy of mAbs may rely on their ability to distinguish monospecific (private) functional epitopes from nonfunctional common (public) epitopes. We developed monospecific anti-HLA-E mAbs (e.g., TFL-033) that recognize only HLA-E-specific epitopes, but not epitopes shared with other HLA class-I loci as occurs with currently available polyreactive anti-HLA-E mAbs. Interestingly the amino acid sequences in the α1 and α2 helices of HLA-E, critical for the recognition of the mAb TFL-033, are strikingly the same sequences recognized by the CD94/NKG2A inhibitory receptors on NK/CD8+ cells. Such monospecific mAbs can block the CD94/NKG2A interaction with HLA-E to restore NK cell and CD8+ anticancer cell cytotoxicity. Furthermore, the HLA-E monospecific mAbs significantly promoted the proliferation of the CD4-/CD8+ T cells. These monospecific mAbs are also invaluable for the specific demonstration of HLA-E on tumor biopsies, potentially indicating those tumors most likely to respond to such therapy. Thus, they can be used to enhance passive immunotherapy once phased preclinical studies and clinical trials are completed. On principle, we postulate that NK cell passive immunotherapy should capitalize on both of these features of monospecific HLA-E mAbs, that is, the specific determination HLA-E expression on a particular tumor and the enhancement of NK cell/CD8+ cytotoxicity if HLA-E positive

Magnetic and humidity sensing properties of nanostructured Cu[x]Co[1-x]Fe2O4 synthesized by auto combustion technique

Magnetic nanomaterials (23-43 nm) of Cu$_x$Co$_{1-x}$Fe$_2$O$_4$\ (x = 0.0, 0.5 and 1.0) were synthesized by auto combustion method. The crystallite sizes of these materials were calculated from X-ray diffraction peaks. The band observed in Fourier transform infrared spectrum near 575 cm$^{-1}$ in these samples confirm the presence of ferrite phase. Conductivity measurement shows the thermal hysteresis and demonstrates the knee points at 475$^o$C, 525$^o$C and 500$^o$C for copper ferrite, cobalt ferrite and copper-cobalt mixed ferrite respectively. The hystersis M-H loops for these materials were traced using the Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) and indicate a significant increase in the saturation magnetization (M$_s$) and remanence (M$_r$) due to the substitution of Cu$^{2+}$ ions in cobalt ferrite, while the intrinsic coercivity (H$_c$) was decreasing. Among these ferrites, copper ferrite exhibits highest sensitivity for humidity.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

Record size of (Carrot tongue sole) Cynoglossus dubius, caught off Veraval, Gujarat

The largest ever recorded tongue sole (Cynoglossus dubius) from Indian waters was landed by a monofilament gillnet at Veraval Fishing Harbour in Gujarat

Plastic debris in the stomach of a Longman’s Beaked Whale, Indopacetus pacificus (Longman, 1926) stranded off Sutrapada, Veraval, Saurashtra coast, India

Longman’s beaked whale or the Indo- Pacific beaked whale (Indopacetus pacificus) is a rarely occurring whale with very poor information on sighting or stranding, though more common in western Indian Ocean region. Threat to marine fauna from the ingestion of plastic carry bags and other non-biodegradable debris scattered on the ocean surface and at the seafloor is increasing at alarming proportions. This communication describes the stranded adult female Longman’s beaked whale near off Sutrapada, Veraval, Gujarat coast that has presumably been choked to death due to the ingestion of four thick plastic bags, which was revealed from the autopsy conducted by the Gujarat Forest Department and the Wildlife Treatment Centre, Sasan Gir, Gujarat

In Things We Trust? Towards trustability in the Internet of Things

This essay discusses the main privacy, security and trustability issues with the Internet of Things

Flourishing trade of air bladders at Okha, Gujarat

The swim bladders of eels (Muraenesox talabonoides Bleeker), ghol (Protonibea diacanthus Lacepede) and koth (Otolithoides biauritus Cantor) are of best quality and fetch very high market price owing to the huge export demand. Fish air bladder is mainly used for making isinglass. Considerable quantity of eel, ghol and koth are landed at Okha by trawlers operating on the rocky bottom (18 m depth) off Jakhau. Around 500 trawlers having an overall length of 40 to 45 ft, powered with 80 - 105 HP engines are actively engaged in the fishing of eel, ghol and koth. The fishing trip lasts for 7 - 10 days with 4 - 6 hauls of 3 h duration per day depending on whether they fish during only day or both day and night. The trawlers carry on an average 10 to 12 nets having length of 35 - 40 m with cod end mesh size varying between 8 and 15 mm

Bumper catch of spiny lobsters by trawlers and gill netters at Okha, Gujarat

During the post-monsoon months of September and October in 2007, an estimated 900 t of spiny lobsters Panulirus polyphagus worth of Rs. 67 crores was landed by trawlers and gill netters at Okha and Rupenbander

Fair and optimistic quantum contract signing

We present a fair and optimistic quantum contract signing protocol between two clients that requires no communication with the third trusted party during the exchange phase. We discuss its fairness and show that it is possible to design such a protocol for which the probability of a dishonest client to cheat becomes negligible, and scales as N^{-1/2}, where N is the number of messages exchanged between the clients. Our protocol is not based on the exchange of signed messages: its fairness is based on the laws of quantum mechanics. Thus, it is abuse-free, and the clients do not have to generate new keys for each message during the Exchange phase. We discuss a real-life scenario when the measurement errors and qubit state corruption due to noisy channels occur and argue that for real, good enough measurement apparatus and transmission channels, our protocol would still be fair. Our protocol could be implemented by today's technology, as it requires in essence the same type of apparatus as the one needed for BB84 cryptographic protocol. Finally, we briefly discuss two alternative versions of the protocol, one that uses only two states (based on B92 protocol) and the other that uses entangled pairs, and show that it is possible to generalize our protocol to an arbitrary number of clients.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure

Fishery and stock estimates of the silver pomfret, Pampus argenteus (Euphrasen), landed by gill netters at Veraval

The fishery and population characteristics of silver pomfret Pampus argenteus (Euphrasen) caught by gillnetters off Veraval were studied for the period from 2003 to 2007. The average annual landing of P. argenteus was 114.5 t, which contributed 4.5% to the total gill net catches. The period from July to September was the most productive in terms of catch and catch rate. The length–weight relationship showed that the growth was isometric. The sex ratio was 1.75 in favour of females. Mature females occurred throughout the year, with maximum during June – November. The length at first maturity of female was 27.5 cm. The von Bertalanffy growth equation was: Lt = 41.57 [1 – e - 0.64 (t + 0.0315)]. The length at first capture (Lc) was 8.2 cm with recruitment taking place throughout the year with two peaks during February-March and in August. The natural mortality (M), fishing mortality (F) and total mortality (Z) were 1.20, 2.11 and 3.31 respectively. The exploitation ratio (E) was 0.64. The Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY: 90 t) was lower than the average annual catch indicating over-exploitation of the species. The yield per recruit (Y/R) and biomass per recruit (B/R) was 38.31 g and 18.16 g respectively. An increase in relative yield by 17.18% would be obtained by decreasing the present level of fishing by 60%

Record size of Oriental sole (Euryglossa orientalis) (Bloch & Schneider, 1801), caught off Nawabunder, Gujarat

E. orientalis largest ever recorded oriental sole landed in Nawabunder Fishing Harbour in Gujarat caught by Dol net