Modulation of IL-17 and Foxp3 Expression in the Prevention of Autoimmune Arthritis in Mice

©2010 Duarte et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic immune mediated disease associated with deregulation of many cell types. It has been reported that different T cell subsets have opposite effects in disease pathogenesis, in particular Th17 and Treg cells. Methodology and Findings: We investigated whether non-depleting anti-CD4 monoclonal antibodies, which have been reported as pro-tolerogenic, can lead to protection from chronic autoimmune arthritis in SKG mice – a recently described animal model of RA – by influencing the Th17/Treg balance. We found that non-depleting anti-CD4 prevented the onset of chronic autoimmune arthritis in SKG mice. Moreover, treated mice were protected from the induction of arthritis up to 60 days following anti-CD4 treatment, while remaining able to mount CD4-dependent immune responses to unrelated antigens. The antibody treatment also prevented disease progression in arthritic mice, although without leading to remission. Protection from arthritis was associated with an increased ratio of Foxp3, and decreased IL-17 producing T cells in the synovia. In vitro assays under Th17-polarizing conditions showed CD4-blockade prevents Th17 polarization, while favoring Foxp3 induction. Conclusions: Non-depleting anti-CD4 can therefore induce long-term protection from chronic autoimmune arthritis in SKG mice through reciprocal changes in the frequency of Treg and Th17 cells in peripheral tissues, thus shifting the balance towards immune tolerance.This work was funded by SUDOE, grant number IMMUNONET-SOE1/1P1/E014, and supported by a research grant from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal (FCT/POCI/SAU-MMO/55974/2004). JD, AA-D, and VGO are funded with scholarships from FCT (SFRH/BD/23631/2005, SFRH/BD/49093/2008, and SFRH/BPD/22575/2005)

Industry/University collaboration in product focussed œnological research in Portugal - the SOGRAPE / UCP ESB partnership 1995 - 1998

A innovative model of collaboration between a wine company and a university research group is presented. A protocol was established as a response to the perceived need to, on the part of the university, (i) focus research on specific scientific bottlenecks which would have a real impact in the producing industry and, on the part of the company, (ii) to have access to the scientific capacity to conduct in-depth studies to approach specific technical challenges. A closely managed programme was jointly established and the major characteristics are presented here together with the main results obtained during the first 2 and a half years of operation

CMB polarimetry with BICEP: instrument characterization, calibration, and performance

BICEP is a ground-based millimeter-wave bolometric array designed to target the primordial gravity wave signature on the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at degree angular scales. Currently in its third year of operation at the South Pole, BICEP is measuring the CMB polarization with unprecedented sensitivity at 100 and 150 GHz in the cleanest available 2% of the sky, as well as deriving independent constraints on the diffuse polarized foregrounds with select observations on and off the Galactic plane. Instrument calibrations are discussed in the context of rigorous control of systematic errors, and the performance during the first two years of the experiment is reviewed.Comment: 12 pages, 15 figures, updated version of a paper accepted for Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, Proceedings of SPIE, 7020, 200

X-Ray Diffraction and Raman Spectroscopic Studies of Glasses and Glass-Ceramics Inside the A2O-MoO3-Nb2O5-P2O5 (A= Li, Na) Systems

Phosphate glasses in the system (50-x)A2O-xMoO3-10Nb2O5-40P2O5 (AMo-40), with x=0; 30 and A=Li or Na were prepared by the melt quenching method. The effect in the crystallization behaviour of the glass due to the introduction of MoO3 in the glass composition and varying the molar ratio between network modifiers and network formers (M/F) was studied. The prepared glasses were heat-treated in air, at 550, 600 and 650 ºC for 4 hours. The structure, of the obtained samples, was studied by differential thermal analysis (DTA), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and the morphology by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that the replacement of Li2O or Na2O by MoO3 reduces the number of the crystallised phases. In the lithium-niobiophosphate glasses the presence of MoO3 promotes the formation of NbOPO4 and reduces the formation of ortho- and pyro-phosphate phases. The thermal treatments affect the arrangements of the network structure of the AMo-40-glasses