91 research outputs found
Expression of HLA-G in patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL).
The expression of HLA-G was reported in certain malignancies and its role in escaping from immunosurveillance in cancers was proposed since HLA-G is a nonconventional HLA class I molecule that protects fetus from immunorecognition during pregnancy. Recent studies proposed HLA-G as novel prognostic marker for patients with B-CLL. HLA-G was showed to bear even better prognostic information compared to Zeta-chain associated protein of 70kDa (ZAP-70) and CD38 although some other authors did not find HLA-G expression in CLL. Therefore in this study we characterized the expression of HLA-G on both RNA and protein level. In most of 20 B-CLL patients we were able to detect signal from HLA-G using flow cytometry analysis. The expression of HLA-G was confirmed on messenger level by real-time RT-PCR experiments. No correlation between HLA-G expression and expression of well established prognostic factors such as ZAP-70 and CD38 was detected. These results confirm that HLA-G is expressed on CLL leukemic cells. Furthermore the expression of HLA-G on CLL cells suggests that this molecule might be involved in escaping of CLL cells from immunosurveillance
Phenology of brown bear breeding season and related geographical cues
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited[EN] Knowledge about breeding biology is often incomplete in species with complex reproductive strategies. The brown bear Ursus arctos is a polygamous seasonal breeder inhabiting a wide variety of habitats and environmental conditions. We compiled information about brown bear breeding season dates from 36 study areas across their distribution range in the Palearctic and Nearctic regions and investigated how their breeding phenology relates to geographical factors (latitude, photoperiod, altitude and region). Brown bear matings were observed for 8 months, from April to November, with a peak in May–July. We found a 59-day difference in the onset of bear breeding season among study areas, with an average 2.3 days delay for each degree of latitude northwards. The onset of the breeding season showed a strong relationship with photoperiod and latitude, but not with region (i.e. Palearctic vs Nearctic) and altitude. First observations of bear mating occurred earlier in areas at lower latitudes. Photoperiod ranged between 14 and 18 hours at the beginning of the season for most of the study areas. The duration of the breeding season ranged from 25 to 138 days among study areas. None of the investigated factors was related to the length of the breeding season. Our results support the relevance of photoperiod to the onset of breeding, as found in other ursids, but not a shorter breeding season at higher latitudes, a pattern reported in other mammals. Our findings suggest a marked seasonality of bear reproductive behaviour, but also certain level of plasticity. Systematic field observations of breeding behaviour are needed to increase our knowledge on the factors determining mating behaviour in species with complex systems and how these species may adapt to climate change.SIWe thank Marjan Artnak, Peter Bajc, Matic Brenk, Tomáš Flajs, Uroš Grželj, Robert Hlavica, Aleš Jagodnik, Peter Klančar, Anton Marinčič, Mariusz Nędzyński, Borut Semenič and Vladimir Vician for providing information about their observations of bear mating. Robert Gatzka assisted with data collection in the Biezszcady Mountains. We thank Jon Swenson and Jumpei Tomiyasu for their help in the literature search. AGR and NS were supported by the BearConnect project funded by the National Science Centre in Poland (2016/22/Z/NZ8/00121) through the 2015-2016 BiodivERsA COFUND call for research proposals, with the national funders ANR/DLR-PT/UEFISCDI/NCN/RCN. Additional funding from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (project NN304- 294037, NS, IEC, KB), the National Science Centre in Poland (project DEC-2013/08/M/NZ9/ 00469, NS), the National Centre for Research and Development (GLOBE, POL-NOR/198352/85/ 2013, NS, TZK, FZ) and Slovenian Research Agency (P4-0059, MK) is acknowledged. AGR and NS conceived the study and wrote a first draft of the paper; AGR and NS compiled the data, AGR analyzed the data; all authors provided data and comments that improved the manuscript. We thank two anonymous reviewers for useful comments on the previous versions of the manuscript
A global review on short peptides: frontiers and perspectives
Peptides are fragments of proteins that carry out biological functions. They act as signaling entities via all domains of life and interfere with protein-protein interactions, which are indispensable in bio-processes. Short peptides include fundamental molecular information for a prelude to the symphony of life. They have aroused considerable interest due to their unique features and great promise in innovative bio-therapies. This work focusing on the current state-of-the-art short peptide-based therapeutical developments is the first global review written by researchers from all continents, as a celebration of 100 years of peptide therapeutics since the commencement of insulin therapy in the 1920s. Peptide “drugs” initially played only the role of hormone analogs to balance disorders. Nowadays, they achieve numerous biomedical tasks, can cross membranes, or reach intracellular targets. The role of peptides in bio-processes can hardly be mimicked by other chemical substances. The article is divided into independent sections, which are related to either the progress in short peptide-based theranostics or the problems posing challenge to bio-medicine. In particular, the SWOT analysis of short peptides, their relevance in therapies of diverse diseases, improvements in (bio)synthesis platforms, advanced nano-supramolecular technologies, aptamers, altered peptide ligands and in silico methodologies to overcome peptide limitations, modern smart bio-functional materials, vaccines, and drug/gene-targeted delivery systems are discussed
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Relationships among streptococci from the mitis group, misidentified as Streptococcus pneumoniae.
The aim of our study was to investigate phenotypic and genotypic features of streptococci misidentified (misID) as Streptococcus pneumoniae, obtained over 20Â years from hospital patients in Poland. Sixty-three isolates demonstrating microbiological features typical for pneumococci (optochin susceptibility and/or bile solubility) were investigated by phenotypic tests, lytA and 16S rRNA gene polymorphism and whole-genome sequencing (WGS). All isolates had a 6-bp deletion in the lytA 3' terminus, characteristic for Mitis streptococc and all but two isolates lacked the pneumococcal signature cytosine at nucleotide position 203 in the 16S rRNA genes. The counterparts of psaA and ply were present in 100% and 81.0% of isolates, respectively; the spn9802 and spn9828 loci were characteristic for 49.2% and 38.1% of isolates, respectively. Phylogenetic trees and networks, based on the multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) scheme, ribosomal multilocus sequence typing (rMLST) scheme and core-genome analysis, clearly separated investigated isolates from S. pneumoniae and demonstrated the polyclonal character of misID streptococci, associated with the Streptococcus pseudopneumoniae and Streptococcus mitis groups. While the S. pseudopneumoniae clade was relatively well defined in all three analyses, only the core-genome analysis revealed the presence of another cluster comprising a fraction of misID streptococci and a strain proposed elsewhere as a representative of a novel species in the Mitis group. Our findings point to complex phylogenetic and taxonomic relationships among S. mitis-like bacteria and support the notion that this group may in fact consist of several distinct species
Characterization of a new small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell line STP54 derived from a metastatic bioptate of a combined type of SCLC with Non-SCLC component.
ZAP-70 and CD38 expression are independent prognostic factors in patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and combined analysis improves their predictive value.
Abnormal cytokine production by bone marrow stromal cells of multiple myeloma patients in response to RPMI8226 myeloma cells
Programmed Death-1 and Its Ligand Are Novel Immunotolerant Molecules Expressed on Leukemic B Cells in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Programmed death-1 (PD-1) is an immunoreceptor predominantly expressed on exhausted T cells, which through an interaction with its ligand (PD-L1), controls peripheral tolerance by limiting effector functions of T lymphocytes. qRT-PCR for PD-1, PD-L1 and their splicing forms as well as flow cytometric assessment of surface expression was performed in a cohort of 58 chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients. In functional studies, we assessed the influence of the proliferative response of leukemic B-cells induced by IL-4 and CD40L on PD-1 transcripts and expression on the protein level. The median level of PD-1, but not PD-L1, transcripts in CLL patients was higher in comparison to healthy volunteers (HVs, n = 43, p = 0.0057). We confirmed the presence of PD-1 and PD-L1 on the CLL cell surface, and found the expression of PD-1, but not PD-L1, to be higher among CLL patients in comparison to HVs (47.2% vs. 14.8%, p<0.0001). The Kaplan-Meier curves for the time to progression and overall survival in groups with high and low surface expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 revealed no prognostic value in CLL patients. After stimulation with IL-4 and CD40L, protein expression of PD-1 was significantly increased in samples that responded and up-regulated CD38. PD-1, which is aberrantly expressed both at mRNA and cell surface levels in CLL cells might represent a novel immunotolerant molecule involved in the pathomechanism of the disease, and could provide a novel target for future therapies
Cd1d regulates B cell development but not B cell accumulation and IL10 production in mice with pathologic CD5+ B cell expansion
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