EBV-gp350 Confers B-Cell Tropism to Tailored Exosomes and Is a Neo-Antigen in Normal and Malignant B Cells—A New Option for the Treatment of B-CLL

gp350, the major envelope protein of Epstein-Barr-Virus, confers B-cell tropism to the virus by interacting with the B lineage marker CD21. Here we utilize gp350 to generate tailored exosomes with an identical tropism. These exosomes can be used for the targeted co-transfer of functional proteins to normal and malignant human B cells. We demonstrate here the co-transfer of functional CD154 protein on tailored gp350+ exosomes to malignant B blasts from patients with B chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), rendering B blasts immunogenic to tumor-reactive autologous T cells. Intriguingly, engulfment of gp350+ exosomes by B-CLL cells and presentation of gp350-derived peptides also re-stimulated EBV-specific T cells and redirected the strong antiviral cellular immune response in patients to leukemic B cells. In essence, we show that gp350 alone confers B-cell tropism to exosomes and that these exosomes can be further engineered to simultaneously trigger virus- and tumor-specific immune responses. The simultaneous exploitation of gp350 as a tropism molecule for tailored exosomes and as a neo-antigen in malignant B cells provides a novel attractive strategy for immunotherapy of B-CLL and other B-cell malignancies

Gute Praxis Datenlinkage (GPD) : Good Practice Data Linkage

Das personenbezogene Verknüpfen verschiedener Datenquellen (Datenlinkage) für Forschungszwecke findet in den letzten Jahren in Deutschland zunehmend Anwendung. Jedoch fehlen hierfür konsentierte methodische Standards. Ziel dieses Beitrages ist es, solche Standards für Forschungsvorhaben zu definieren. Eine weitere Intention ist es, dem Lesenden eine Checkliste zur Bewertung geplanter Forschungsvorhaben und Artikel bereitzustellen. Zu diesem Zweck hat eine aus Mitgliedern verschiedener Fachgesellschaften zusammengesetzte Expertengruppe seit 2016 insgesamt 7 Leitlinien mit 27 konkreten Empfehlungen erstellt. Die Gute Praxis Datenlinkage beinhaltet die folgenden Leitlinien: (1) Forschungsziele, Fragestellung, Datenquellen und Ressourcen, (2) Dateninfrastruktur und Datenfluss, (3) Datenschutz, (4) Ethik, (5) Schlüsselvariablen und Linkageverfahren, (6) Datenprüfung/Qualitätssicherung sowie (7) Langfristige Datennutzung für noch festzulegende Fragestellungen. Jede Leitlinie wird ausführlich diskutiert. Zukünftige Aktualisierungen werden wissenschaftliche und datenschutzrechtliche Entwicklungen berücksichtigen

Search for gravitational-lensing signatures in the full third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network

Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions of gravitational wave-signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO--Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by 1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, 2) calculating the degree of overlap amongst the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, 3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms amongst pairs of signals, and 4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by 1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and 2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the non-detection of gravitational-wave lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects

Older age onset of systemic sclerosis - accelerated disease progression in all disease subsets

Objectives. Systemic sclerosis is a heterogeneous, multisystem disease. It can occur at any age, but most patients develop the disease between the age of 40 to 50 years. There is controversial evidence on whether/how the age at disease onset affects their clinical phenotype. We here investigate the relationship between age at disease onset and symptoms in a large cohort of SSc patients (IcSSc, dcSSc and SSc-overlap syndromes). Methods. Clinical data of the registry of the German Network for Systemic Scleroderma including 3281 patients were evaluated and subdivided into three age groups at disease onset (60 years). Results. Among all SSc patients, 24.5% developed their first non-Raynaud phenomenon symptoms at the age 60 years), except for gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal involvement. No significant difference was found for the use of corticosteroids. However, significantly, fewer patients older than 60 years received immunosuppressive treatment. Conclusion. In this large registry, similar to 25% of patients developed SSc at an age above 60years with an increased frequency of IcSSc. In this age group, an onset of internal organ involvement was significantly accelerated across all three subsets. These findings suggest that, in the elderly cohort, more frequent follow-up examinations are required for an earlier detection of organ complications

Good Practice Data Linkage (GPD): A Translation of the German Version dagger

The data linkage of different data sources for research purposes is being increasingly used in recent years. However, generally accepted methodological guidance is missing. The aim of this article is to provide methodological guidelines and recommendations for research projects that have been consented to across different German research societies. Another aim is to endow readers with a checklist for the critical appraisal of research proposals and articles. This Good Practice Data Linkage (GPD) was already published in German in 2019, but the aspects mentioned can easily be transferred to an international context, especially for other European Union (EU) member states. Therefore, it is now also published in English. Since 2016, an expert panel of members of different German scientific societies have worked together and developed seven guidelines with a total of 27 practical recommendations. These recommendations include (1) the research objectives, research questions, data sources, and resources; (2) the data infrastructure and data flow; (3) data protection; (4) ethics; (5) the key variables and linkage methods; (6) data validation/quality assurance; and (7) the long-term use of data for questions still to be determined. The authors provide a rationale for each recommendation. Future revisions will include new developments in science and updates of data privacy regulations

Gute Praxis Datenlinkage (GPD)

Das personenbezogene Verknüpfen verschiedener Datenquellen (Datenlinkage) für Forschungszwecke findet in den letzten Jahren in Deutschland zunehmend Anwendung. Jedoch fehlen hierfür konsentierte methodische Standards. Ziel dieses Beitrages ist es, solche Standards für Forschungsvorhaben zu definieren. Eine weitere Intention ist es, dem Lesenden eine Checkliste zur Bewertung geplanter Forschungsvorhaben und Artikel bereitzustellen. Zu diesem Zweck hat eine aus Mitgliedern verschiedener Fachgesellschaften zusammengesetzte Expertengruppe seit 2016 insgesamt 7 Leitlinien mit 27 konkreten Empfehlungen erstellt. Die Gute Praxis Datenlinkage beinhaltet die folgenden Leitlinien: (1) Forschungsziele, Fragestellung, Datenquellen und Ressourcen, (2) Dateninfrastruktur und Datenfluss, (3) Datenschutz, (4) Ethik, (5) Schlüsselvariablen und Linkageverfahren, (6) Datenprüfung/Qualitätssicherung sowie (7) Langfristige Datennutzung für noch festzulegende Fragestellungen. Jede Leitlinie wird ausführlich diskutiert. Zukünftige Aktualisierungen werden wissenschaftliche und datenschutzrechtliche Entwicklungen berücksichtigen.Individual data linkage of different data sources for research purposes is being increasingly used in Germany in recent years. However, generally accepted methodological guidance is missing. The aim of this article is to define such methodological standards for research projects. Another aim is to provide readers with a checklist for critical appraisal of research proposals and articles. Since 2016, an expert panel of members of different German scientific societies have worked together and developed 7 guidelines with a total of 27 practical recommendations. These recommendations include (1) research aims, questions, data sources and resources, (2) infrastructure and data flow, (3) data privacy, (4) ethics, (5) key variables and type of linkage, (6) data validation/quality assurance and (7) long-term use for future research questions. The authors provide a rationale for each recommendation. Future revisions will include any new developments in science and data privacy