Tocotrienols are good adjuvants for developing cancer vaccines

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dendritic cells (DCs) have the potential for cancer immunotherapy due to their ability to process and present antigens to T-cells and also in stimulating immune responses. However, DC-based vaccines have only exhibited minimal effectiveness against established tumours in mice and humans. The use of appropriate adjuvant enhances the efficacy of DC based cancer vaccines in treating tumours.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study we have used tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF), a non-toxic natural compound, as an adjuvant to enhance the effectiveness of DC vaccines in treating mouse mammary cancers. In the mouse model, six-week-old female BALB/c mice were injected subcutaneously with DC and supplemented with oral TRF daily (DC+TRF) and DC pulsed with tumour lysate from 4T1 cells (DC+TL). Experimental mice were also injected with DC pulsed with tumour lysate and supplemented daily with oral TRF (DC+TL+TRF) while two groups of animal which were supplemented daily with carrier oil (control) and with TRF (TRF). After three times vaccination, mice were inoculated with 4T1 cells in the mammary breast pad to induce tumour.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our study showed that TRF in combination with DC pulsed with tumour lysate (DC+TL+TRF) injected subcutaneously significantly inhibited the growth of 4T1 mammary tumour cells as compared to control group. Analysis of cytokines production from murine splenocytes showed significant increased productions of IFN-γ and IL-12 in experimental mice (DC+TL+TRF) compared to control, mice injected with DC without TRF, mice injected with DC pulsed with tumour lysate and mice supplemented with TRF alone. Higher numbers of cytotoxic T cells (CD8) and natural killer cells (NK) were observed in the peripheral blood of TRF adjuvanted DC pulsed tumour lysate mice.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study show that TRF has the potential to be an adjuvant to augment DC based immunotherapy.</p

Hot hardness and creep of Fe3AlFe_3Al-based alloys

Hot hardness and creep studies were carried out on $Fe_3Al$ and $Fe_3Al$ containing Cr or Ti. Indentation and impression creep testing methods were employed to characterize the creep behaviour. Compared to the binary alloy, $Fe3Al-Cr$ exhibits a lower hardness indicating solid-solution softening effect of Cr. On the other hand, solid-solution hardening effect of Ti is significant in the temperature range 300-900 K. Results from indentation creep indicates that a power-law creep behaviour (n between 6 and 8)is observed in the binary and Cr containing alloys at temperatures greater than 753 K. At lower temperatures in the above two alloys and in the Ti-containing alloy even at higher temperatures, there is a power-law break down. On the other hand at low stress levels covered in the impression creep studies, power-law creep is observed in all the alloys in the stress and temperature range of investigation. Under these conditions, all the alloys exhibit a stress exponent value of around 3 for the steady state creep rate. The activation energy for creep is estimated to be in the range 325 and 375 kJ mol. Among the alloys studied, $Fe_3Al-Ti$ exhibits the best creep resistance. The results indicate that in the B2 region, viscous glide controls the creep rate at low stresses while climb of dislocations may be rate controlling at higher stresses