405 research outputs found

    Cytotoxic Chemotherapy and CD4+ Effector T Cells: An Emerging Alliance for Durable Antitumor Effects

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    Standard cytotoxic chemotherapy can initially achieve high response rates, but relapses often occur in patients and represent a severe clinical problem. As increasing numbers of chemotherapeutic agents are found to have immunostimulatory effects, there is a growing interest to combine chemotherapy and immunotherapy for synergistic antitumor effects and improved clinical benefits. Findings from recent studies suggest that highly activated, polyfunctional CD4+ effector T cells have tremendous potential in strengthening and sustaining the overall host antitumor immunity in the postchemotherapy window. This review focuses on the latest progresses regarding the impact of chemotherapy on CD4+ T-cell phenotype and function and discusses the prospect of exploiting CD4+ T cells to control tumor progression and prevent relapse after chemotherapy

    Expression of CD147 on monocytes/macrophages in rheumatoid arthritis: its potential role in monocyte accumulation and matrix metalloproteinase production

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    Monocytes/macrophages play an important role in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pathogenesis. They can activate fibroblasts through many molecules, including IL-1 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha, but there have been very few reports on the role of CD147 in RA. In our study, the results of flow cytometry reveal that the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of CD147 expression on CD14+ monocytes of peripheral blood from RA patients was higher than that in normal control and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients. The MFI of CD147 expression on the CD14+ monocytes in RA synovial fluid was higher than that in RA peripheral blood. Immunohistochemical staining shows that CD147 expression in RA synovium correlated with matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 expression. A double immunofluorescent assay shows that CD147 was expressed on CD68+ cells in RA synovium. The potential role of CD147 in cyclophilin A (CyPA)-mediated cell migration was studied using a chemotaxis assay in vitro and it was found that the addition of anti-CD147 antibody or a CD147 antagonistic peptide significantly decreased the chemotactic index of the mononuclear cells. The role of CD147 in MMP production and cell invasion in vitro were studied through the co-culture of human CD14+ monocytes or monocytic line THP-1 cells and human fibroblasts, as well as by gel zymography and an invasion assay. Significantly elevated release and activation of MMP-9 and/or MMP-2 were seen in the co-culture of human monocytes/THP-1 cells and fibroblasts compared with cultures of the cells alone. An increased number of cells invading through the filters in the invasion assays was also observed in the co-cultured cells. The addition of CD147 antagonistic peptide had some inhibitory effect, not only on MMP production but also on cell invasion in the co-culture. Our study demonstrates that the increased expression of CD147 on monocytes/macrophages in RA may be responsible for elevated MMP secretion, cell invasion and CyPA-mediated cell migration into the joints, all of which may contribute to the cartilage and bone destruction of RA. These findings, together with a better understanding of CD147, CyPA and RA, will help in the development of innovative therapeutic interventions for RA

    Anisotropic g factors of the tetragonal Cu²⁺ monomer in Tl-2223 superconductor

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    The gyromagnetic factors of the Cu²⁺ monomer in Tl-2223 superconductor are quantitatively investigated from the perturbation formulas of these factors for a 3d⁹ ion in a tetragonally elongated octahedron. The local tetragonal distortion of the system is attributable to the axial elongation along c axis, corresponding to the five-fold coordinated Cu²⁺(2) site with almost 30% longer Cu–O bond length for the apical oxygen as compared to the four planar ones. The significant anisotropic behaviors of the EPR spectra perpendicular to and parallel with the ab (CuO₂) layers are analyzed on the basis of the local tetragonal elongation

    Bis[μ-1,4-bis­(4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-2-yl)benzene-κ2 N 3:N 3′]silver(I) dinitrate dihydrate

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    The reaction of 1,4-bis­(4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-2-yl)benzene (bib) with silver(I) nitrate in a 1:1 molar ratio generates the metallacyclic title complex, [Ag2(C12H14N4)2](NO3)2·2H2O, in which the bib ligand displays a cis configuration. Each bib ligand acts as a bidentate bridging ligand connecting a pair of AgI ions to form a [2 + 2] metallamacrocycle in which the Ag⋯Ag distance is 6.77 (2) Å. Each AgI ion has weak contacts (2.91 Å) with the nitrate anion. The uncoordinated water mol­ecules make hydrogen bonds with nitrate O atoms, forming chains. The H atoms attached to the uncoordinated nitro­gen inter­act with these chains through N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming layers parallel to the (11) plane

    Physics perspectives of heavy-ion collisions at very high energy

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    Heavy-ion collisions at very high colliding energies are expected to produce a quark-gluon plasma (QGP) at the highest temperature obtainable in a laboratory setting. Experimental studies of these reactions can provide an unprecedented range of information on properties of the QGP at high temperatures. We report theoretical investigations of the physics perspectives of heavy-ion collisions at a future high-energy collider. These include initial parton production, collective expansion of the dense medium, jet quenching, heavy-quark transport, dissociation and regeneration of quarkonia, photon and dilepton production. We illustrate the potential of future experimental studies of the initial particle production and formation of QGP at the highest temperature to provide constraints on properties of strongly interaction matter.Comment: 35 pages in Latex, 29 figure

    Isolation and characterization of drought-responsive genes from peanut roots by suppression subtractive hybridization

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    Background: Peanut ( Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important economic and oilseed crop. Long-term rainless conditions and seasonal droughts can limit peanut yields and were conducive to preharvest aflatoxin contamination. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which peanut responds and adapts to water limited conditions, we isolated and characterized several drought-induced genes from peanut roots using a suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) technique. Results: RNA was extracted frompeanut roots subjected to a water stress treatment (45% field capacity) and from control plants (75% field capacity), and used to generate an SSH cDNA library. A total of 111 non-redundant sequences were obtained, with 80 unique transcripts showing homology to known genes and 31 clones with no similarity to either hypothetical or known proteins. GO and KEGG analyses of these differentially expressed ESTs indicated that drought-related responses in peanut could mainly be attributed to genes involved in cellular structure and metabolism. In addition, we examined the expression patterns of seven differentially expressed candidate genes using real-time reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) and confirmed that all were up-regulated in roots in response to drought stress, but to differing extents. Conclusions: We successfully constructed an SSH cDNA library in peanut roots and identified several drought-related genes. Our results serve as a foundation for future studies into the elucidation of the drought stress response mechanisms of peanut

    Impact of maternal neuraxial labor analgesia exposure on offspring's neurodevelopment: A longitudinal prospective cohort study with propensity score matching

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    BackgroundNeuraxial analgesia is widely used to relieve labor pain; its effects on long-term neurodevelopment of offspring remain unclear. This study was designed to investigate the influence of maternal neuraxial labor analgesia on offspring mental development.MethodsThis was a predefined secondary analysis of a 2-year prospective longitudinal study. Nulliparous women with single-term cephalic pregnancy preparing for vaginal delivery self-selected neuraxial analgesia or not during labor. Mothers and their offspring were followed up 2 years later. children's mental development was assessed with the bayley scales of infant development. A multivariable logistic model was used to identify factors associated with below-average mental development (Mental Development Index <90).ResultsA Total of 508 pairs of mothers and children completed a 2-year follow-up. after propensity score matching, 387 pairs were included in the analysis. In both cohorts, the proportions with below-average mental development were slightly lower in children whose mothers received neuraxial labor analgesia, although not statistically significant [in the full cohort: 9.8 % (36/368) vs. 15.7% (22/140), P = 0.060; In the matched cohort: 8.3% (21/254) vs. 14.3% (19/133), P = 0.065]. A higher 2-year depression score (in the full cohort: Odds Ratio 1.15, 95% CI 1.08–1.22, P < 0.001; In the matched cohort: Odds Ratio 1.09, 95% CI 1.01–1.18, P = 0.037), but not neuraxial analgesia exposure, was associated with an increased risk of below-average mental development.ConclusionsMaternal depression at 2 years was associated with the risk of below-average mental development, whereas maternal exposure to neuraxial labor analgesia was not.Clinical Trial RegistrationThe study was registered with www.chictr.org.cn (ChiCTR-OCH-14004888) and ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02823418)
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