26 research outputs found
Regulatory role of vitamin D in T-cell reactivity against myelin peptides in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients
Background: Low levels of plasma 25-hydroxyvitaminD (25(OH)D) are associated with a higher incidence of multiple sclerosis (MS) due to the immune suppressive properties of vitamin D. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between plasma 25(OH)D concentrations and clinical and immunological variables in a cohort of multiple sclerosis patients. Methods: Plasma 25(OH)D concentrations were evaluated in summer and winter in 15 primary progressive MS (PPMS) patients, 40 relapsing- remitting MS (RRMS) patients and 40 controls (HC). Protocol variables included demographic and clinical data, radiological findings and immunological variables (oligoclonal bands, HLADR15 and T-lymphocyte proliferation to a definite mix of 7 myelin peptides). Results: During the winter, plasma concentrations were significantly lower in RRMS patients compared to HC, whereas no differences were found in summer. No relationships were found between plasma 25(OH)D concentrations and clinical or radiological variables. RRMS patients with a positive T-cell proliferation to a mix of myelin peptides (n = 31) had lower 25(OH)D concentrations. Conclusions: 25(OH)D is an immunomodulatory molecule that might have a regulatory role in T-cell proliferation to myelin peptides in RRMS patients
Comparative study of clinical grade human tolerogenic dendritic cells
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The use of tolerogenic DCs is a promising therapeutic strategy for transplantation and autoimmune disorders. Immunomodulatory DCs are primarily generated from monocytes (MDDCs) for <it>in vitro </it>experiments following protocols that fail to fulfil the strict regulatory rules of clinically applicable products. Here, we compared the efficacy of three different tolerance-inducing agents, dexamethasone, rapamycin and vitamin D3, on DC biology using GMP (<it>Good Manufacturing Practice</it>) or clinical grade reagents with the aim of defining their use for human cell therapy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Tolerogenic MDDCs were generated by adding tolerogenic agents prior to the induction of maturation using TNF-α, IL-β and PGE2. We evaluated the effects of each agent on viability, efficiency of differentiation, phenotype, cytokine secretion and stability, the stimulatory capacity of tol-DCs and the T-cell profiles induced.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Differences relevant to therapeutic applicability were observed with the cellular products that were obtained. VitD3-induced tol-DCs exhibited a slightly reduced viability and yield compared to Dexa-and Rapa-tol-DCs. Phenotypically, while Dexa-and VitD3-tol-DCs were similar to immature DCs, Rapa-tol-DCs were not distinguishable from mature DCs. In addition, only Dexa-and moderately VitD3-tol-DCs exhibited IL-10 production. Interestingly, in all cases, the cytokine secretion profiles of tol-DCs were not modified by a subsequent TLR stimulation with LPS, indicating that all products had stable phenotypes. Functionally, clearly reduced alloantigen T cell proliferation was induced by tol-DCs obtained using any of these agent. Also, total interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) secretion by T cells stimulated with allogeneic tol-DCs was reduced in all three cases, but only T cells co-cultured with Rapa-tol-DCs showed impaired intracellular IFN-γ production. In addition, Rapa-DCs promoted CD4+ CD127 low/negative CD25high and Foxp3+ T cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results demonstrate contrasting influences of different clinical-grade pharmacological agents on human tol-DC generation. This should be taken into account for decisions on the use of a specific agent for the appropriate cellular therapy in the context of a particular disease.</p
Analytical techniques for multiplex analysis of protein biomarkers
Introduction: The importance of biomarkers for pharmaceutical drug development and clinical diagnostics is more significant than ever in the current shift toward personalized medicine. Biomarkers have taken a central position either as companion markers to support drug development and patient selection, or as indicators aiming to detect the earliest perturbations indicative of disease, minimizing therapeutic intervention or even enabling disease reversal. Protein biomarkers are of particular interest given their central role in biochemical pathways. Hence, capabilities to analyze multiple protein biomarkers in one assay are highly interesting for biomedical research. Areas covered: We here review multiple methods that are suitable for robust, high throughput, standardized, and affordable analysis of protein biomarkers in a multiplex format. We describe innovative developments in immunoassays, the vanguard of methods in clinical laboratories, and mass spectrometry, increasingly implemented for protein biomarker analysis. Moreover, emerging techniques are discussed with potentially improved protein capture, separation, and detection that will further boost multiplex analyses. Expert commentary: The development of clinically applied multiplex protein biomarker assays is essential as multi-protein signatures provide more comprehensive information about biological systems than single biomarkers, leading to improved insights in mechanisms of disease, diagnostics, and the effect of personalized medicine
Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2
The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality
Identification of genetic variants associated with Huntington's disease progression: a genome-wide association study
Background Huntington's disease is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene, HTT. Age at onset has been used as a quantitative phenotype in genetic analysis looking for Huntington's disease modifiers, but is hard to define and not always available. Therefore, we aimed to generate a novel measure of disease progression and to identify genetic markers associated with this progression measure. Methods We generated a progression score on the basis of principal component analysis of prospectively acquired longitudinal changes in motor, cognitive, and imaging measures in the 218 indivduals in the TRACK-HD cohort of Huntington's disease gene mutation carriers (data collected 2008–11). We generated a parallel progression score using data from 1773 previously genotyped participants from the European Huntington's Disease Network REGISTRY study of Huntington's disease mutation carriers (data collected 2003–13). We did a genome-wide association analyses in terms of progression for 216 TRACK-HD participants and 1773 REGISTRY participants, then a meta-analysis of these results was undertaken. Findings Longitudinal motor, cognitive, and imaging scores were correlated with each other in TRACK-HD participants, justifying use of a single, cross-domain measure of disease progression in both studies. The TRACK-HD and REGISTRY progression measures were correlated with each other (r=0·674), and with age at onset (TRACK-HD, r=0·315; REGISTRY, r=0·234). The meta-analysis of progression in TRACK-HD and REGISTRY gave a genome-wide significant signal (p=1·12 × 10−10) on chromosome 5 spanning three genes: MSH3, DHFR, and MTRNR2L2. The genes in this locus were associated with progression in TRACK-HD (MSH3 p=2·94 × 10−8 DHFR p=8·37 × 10−7 MTRNR2L2 p=2·15 × 10−9) and to a lesser extent in REGISTRY (MSH3 p=9·36 × 10−4 DHFR p=8·45 × 10−4 MTRNR2L2 p=1·20 × 10−3). The lead single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in TRACK-HD (rs557874766) was genome-wide significant in the meta-analysis (p=1·58 × 10−8), and encodes an aminoacid change (Pro67Ala) in MSH3. In TRACK-HD, each copy of the minor allele at this SNP was associated with a 0·4 units per year (95% CI 0·16–0·66) reduction in the rate of change of the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) Total Motor Score, and a reduction of 0·12 units per year (95% CI 0·06–0·18) in the rate of change of UHDRS Total Functional Capacity score. These associations remained significant after adjusting for age of onset. Interpretation The multidomain progression measure in TRACK-HD was associated with a functional variant that was genome-wide significant in our meta-analysis. The association in only 216 participants implies that the progression measure is a sensitive reflection of disease burden, that the effect size at this locus is large, or both. Knockout of Msh3 reduces somatic expansion in Huntington's disease mouse models, suggesting this mechanism as an area for future therapeutic investigation
Detailed stratified GWAS analysis for severe COVID-19 in four European populations
Given the highly variable clinical phenotype of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a deeper analysis of the host genetic contribution to severe COVID-19 is important to improve our understanding of underlying disease mechanisms. Here, we describe an extended genome-wide association meta-analysis of a well-characterized cohort of 3255 COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure and 12 488 population controls from Italy, Spain, Norway and Germany/Austria, including stratified analyses based on age, sex and disease severity, as well as targeted analyses of chromosome Y haplotypes, the human leukocyte antigen region and the SARS-CoV-2 peptidome. By inversion imputation, we traced a reported association at 17q21.31 to a ~0.9-Mb inversion polymorphism that creates two highly differentiated haplotypes and characterized the potential effects of the inversion in detail. Our data, together with the 5th release of summary statistics from the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative including non-Caucasian individuals, also identified a new locus at 19q13.33, including NAPSA, a gene which is expressed primarily in alveolar cells responsible for gas exchange in the lung.S.E.H. and C.A.S. partially supported genotyping through a philanthropic donation. A.F. and D.E. were supported by a grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and COVID-19 grant Research (BMBF; ID:01KI20197); A.F., D.E. and F.D. were supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Cluster of Excellence ‘Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation’ (EXC2167). D.E. was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the Computational Life Sciences funding concept (CompLS grant 031L0165). D.E., K.B. and S.B. acknowledge the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF14CC0001 and NNF17OC0027594). T.L.L., A.T. and O.Ö. were funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), project numbers 279645989; 433116033; 437857095. M.W. and H.E. are supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the Research Training Group 1743, ‘Genes, Environment and Inflammation’. L.V. received funding from: Ricerca Finalizzata Ministero della Salute (RF-2016-02364358), Italian Ministry of Health ‘CV PREVITAL’—strategie di prevenzione primaria cardiovascolare primaria nella popolazione italiana; The European Union (EU) Programme Horizon 2020 (under grant agreement No. 777377) for the project LITMUS- and for the project ‘REVEAL’; Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda ‘Ricerca corrente’, Fondazione Sviluppo Ca’ Granda ‘Liver-BIBLE’ (PR-0391), Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda ‘5permille’ ‘COVID-19 Biobank’ (RC100017A). A.B. was supported by a grant from Fondazione Cariplo to Fondazione Tettamanti: ‘Bio-banking of Covid-19 patient samples to support national and international research (Covid-Bank). This research was partly funded by an MIUR grant to the Department of Medical Sciences, under the program ‘Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2018–2022’. This study makes use of data generated by the GCAT-Genomes for Life. Cohort study of the Genomes of Catalonia, Fundació IGTP (The Institute for Health Science Research Germans Trias i Pujol) IGTP is part of the CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya. GCAT is supported by Acción de Dinamización del ISCIII-MINECO and the Ministry of Health of the Generalitat of Catalunya (ADE 10/00026); the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR) (2017-SGR 529). M.M. received research funding from grant PI19/00335 Acción Estratégica en Salud, integrated in the Spanish National RDI Plan and financed by ISCIII-Subdirección General de Evaluación and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (European Regional Development Fund (FEDER)-Una manera de hacer Europa’). B.C. is supported by national grants PI18/01512. X.F. is supported by the VEIS project (001-P-001647) (co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), ‘A way to build Europe’). Additional data included in this study were obtained in part by the COVICAT Study Group (Cohort Covid de Catalunya) supported by IsGlobal and IGTP, European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, COVID-19 Rapid Response activity 73A and SR20-01024 La Caixa Foundation. A.J. and S.M. were supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant numbers: PSE-010000-2006-6 and IPT-010000-2010-36). A.J. was also supported by national grant PI17/00019 from the Acción Estratégica en Salud (ISCIII) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). The Basque Biobank, a hospital-related platform that also involves all Osakidetza health centres, the Basque government’s Department of Health and Onkologikoa, is operated by the Basque Foundation for Health Innovation and Research-BIOEF. M.C. received Grants BFU2016-77244-R and PID2019-107836RB-I00 funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI, Spain) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER, EU). M.R.G., J.A.H., R.G.D. and D.M.M. are supported by the ‘Spanish Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Competition, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III’ (PI19/01404, PI16/01842, PI19/00589, PI17/00535 and GLD19/00100) and by the Andalussian government (Proyectos Estratégicos-Fondos Feder PE-0451-2018, COVID-Premed, COVID GWAs). The position held by Itziar de Rojas Salarich is funded by grant FI20/00215, PFIS Contratos Predoctorales de Formación en Investigación en Salud. Enrique Calderón’s team is supported by CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), ‘Instituto de Salud Carlos III’. J.C.H. reports grants from Research Council of Norway grant no 312780 during the conduct of the study. E.S. reports grants from Research Council of Norway grant no. 312769. The BioMaterialBank Nord is supported by the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Airway Research Center North (ARCN). The BioMaterialBank Nord is member of popgen 2.0 network (P2N). P.K. Bergisch Gladbach, Germany and the Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. He is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). O.A.C. is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education and is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy—CECAD, EXC 2030–390661388. The COMRI cohort is funded by Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany. This work was supported by grants of the Rolf M. Schwiete Stiftung, the Saarland University, BMBF and The States of Saarland and Lower Saxony. K.U.L. is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG, LU-1944/3-1). Genotyping for the BoSCO study is funded by the Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital Bonn. F.H. was supported by the Bavarian State Ministry for Science and Arts. Part of the genotyping was supported by a grant to A.R. from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, grant: 01ED1619A, European Alzheimer DNA BioBank, EADB) within the context of the EU Joint Programme—Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND). Additional funding was derived from the German Research Foundation (DFG) grant: RA 1971/6-1 to A.R. P.R. is supported by the DFG (CCGA Sequencing Centre and DFG ExC2167 PMI and by SH state funds for COVID19 research). F.T. is supported by the Clinician Scientist Program of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Cluster of Excellence ‘Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation’ (EXC2167). C.L. and J.H. are supported by the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF). T.B., M.M.B., O.W. und A.H. are supported by the Stiftung Universitätsmedizin Essen. M.A.-H. was supported by Juan de la Cierva Incorporacion program, grant IJC2018-035131-I funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. E.C.S. is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; SCHU 2419/2-1).Peer reviewe
Detailed stratified GWAS analysis for severe COVID-19 in four European populations
Given the highly variable clinical phenotype of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a deeper analysis of the host genetic contribution to severe COVID-19 is important to improve our understanding of underlying disease mechanisms. Here, we describe an extended GWAS meta-analysis of a well-characterized cohort of 3,260 COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure and 12,483 population controls from Italy, Spain, Norway and Germany/Austria, including stratified analyses based on age, sex and disease severity, as well as targeted analyses of chromosome Y haplotypes, the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region and the SARS-CoV-2 peptidome. By inversion imputation, we traced a reported association at 17q21.31 to a highly pleiotropic ∼0.9-Mb inversion polymorphism and characterized the potential effects of the inversion in detail. Our data, together with the 5th release of summary statistics from the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative, also identified a new locus at 19q13.33, including NAPSA, a gene which is expressed primarily in alveolar cells responsible for gas exchange in the lung.Andre Franke and David Ellinghaus were supported by a grant from the German
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (01KI20197), Andre Franke, David
Ellinghaus and Frauke Degenhardt were supported by the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft Cluster of Excellence “Precision Medicine in Chronic
Inflammation” (EXC2167). David Ellinghaus was supported by the German Federal
Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the
Computational Life Sciences funding concept (CompLS grant 031L0165). David
Ellinghaus, Karina Banasik and Søren Brunak acknowledge the Novo Nordisk
Foundation (grant NNF14CC0001 and NNF17OC0027594). Tobias L. Lenz, Ana
Teles and Onur Özer were funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG,
German Research Foundation), project numbers 279645989; 433116033; 437857095. Mareike Wendorff and Hesham ElAbd are supported by the German
Research Foundation (DFG) through the Research Training Group 1743, "Genes,
Environment and Inflammation". This project was supported by a Covid-19 grant from
the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; ID: 01KI20197).
Luca Valenti received funding from: Ricerca Finalizzata Ministero della Salute RF2016-02364358, Italian Ministry of Health ""CV PREVITAL – strategie di prevenzione
primaria cardiovascolare primaria nella popolazione italiana; The European Union
(EU) Programme Horizon 2020 (under grant agreement No. 777377) for the project
LITMUS- and for the project ""REVEAL""; Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda ""Ricerca
corrente"", Fondazione Sviluppo Ca' Granda ""Liver-BIBLE"" (PR-0391), Fondazione
IRCCS Ca' Granda ""5permille"" ""COVID-19 Biobank"" (RC100017A). Andrea Biondi
was supported by the grant from Fondazione Cariplo to Fondazione Tettamanti: "Biobanking of Covid-19 patient samples to support national and international research
(Covid-Bank). This research was partly funded by a MIUR grant to the Department of
Medical Sciences, under the program "Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2018–2022". This
study makes use of data generated by the GCAT-Genomes for Life. Cohort study of
the Genomes of Catalonia, Fundació IGTP. IGTP is part of the CERCA Program /
Generalitat de Catalunya. GCAT is supported by Acción de Dinamización del ISCIIIMINECO and the Ministry of Health of the Generalitat of Catalunya (ADE 10/00026);
the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR) (2017-SGR 529).
Marta Marquié received research funding from ant PI19/00335 Acción Estratégica en
Salud, integrated in the Spanish National RDI Plan and financed by ISCIIISubdirección General de Evaluación and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional
(FEDER-Una manera de hacer Europa").Beatriz Cortes is supported by national
grants PI18/01512. Xavier Farre is supported by VEIS project (001-P-001647) (cofunded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), “A way to build Europe”).
Additional data included in this study was obtained in part by the COVICAT Study
Group (Cohort Covid de Catalunya) supported by IsGlobal and IGTP, EIT COVID-19
Rapid Response activity 73A and SR20-01024 La Caixa Foundation. Antonio Julià
and Sara Marsal were supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and
Competitiveness (grant numbers: PSE-010000-2006-6 and IPT-010000-2010-36).
Antonio Julià was also supported the by national grant PI17/00019 from the Acción
Estratégica en Salud (ISCIII) and the FEDER. The Basque Biobank is a hospitalrelated platform that also involves all Osakidetza health centres, the Basque government's Department of Health and Onkologikoa, is operated by the Basque
Foundation for Health Innovation and Research-BIOEF. Mario Cáceres received
Grants BFU2016-77244-R and PID2019-107836RB-I00 funded by the Agencia Estatal
de Investigación (AEI, Spain) and the European Regional Development Fund
(FEDER, EU). Manuel Romero Gómez, Javier Ampuero Herrojo, Rocío Gallego Durán
and Douglas Maya Miles are supported by the “Spanish Ministry of Economy,
Innovation and Competition, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III” (PI19/01404,
PI16/01842, PI19/00589, PI17/00535 and GLD19/00100), and by the Andalussian
government (Proyectos Estratégicos-Fondos Feder PE-0451-2018, COVID-Premed,
COVID GWAs). The position held by Itziar de Rojas Salarich is funded by grant
FI20/00215, PFIS Contratos Predoctorales de Formación en Investigación en Salud.
Enrique Calderón's team is supported by CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health
(CIBERESP), "Instituto de Salud Carlos III". Jan Cato Holter reports grants from
Research Council of Norway grant no 312780 during the conduct of the study. Dr.
Solligård: reports grants from Research Council of Norway grant no 312769. The
BioMaterialBank Nord is supported by the German Center for Lung Research (DZL),
Airway Research Center North (ARCN). The BioMaterialBank Nord is member of
popgen 2.0 network (P2N). Philipp Koehler has received non-financial scientific grants
from Miltenyi Biotec GmbH, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, and the Cologne
Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases,
University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. He is supported by the German Federal
Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).Oliver A. Cornely is supported by the
German Federal Ministry of Research and Education and is funded by the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany's
Excellence Strategy – CECAD, EXC 2030 – 390661388. The COMRI cohort is funded
by Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany. Genotyping was performed by
the Genotyping laboratory of Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM
Technology Centre, University of Helsinki. This work was supported by grants of the
Rolf M. Schwiete Stiftung, the Saarland University, BMBF and The States of Saarland
and Lower Saxony. Kerstin U. Ludwig is supported by the German Research
Foundation (DFG, LU-1944/3-1). Genotyping for the BoSCO study is funded by the
Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital Bonn. Frank Hanses was supported
by the Bavarian State Ministry for Science and Arts. Part of the genotyping was
supported by a grant to Alfredo Ramirez from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, grant: 01ED1619A, European Alzheimer DNA
BioBank, EADB) within the context of the EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative
Disease Research (JPND). Additional funding was derived from the German Research
Foundation (DFG) grant: RA 1971/6-1 to Alfredo Ramirez. Philip Rosenstiel is
supported by the DFG (CCGA Sequencing Centre and DFG ExC2167 PMI and by SH
state funds for COVID19 research). Florian Tran is supported by the Clinician Scientist
Program of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Cluster of Excellence “Precision
Medicine in Chronic Inflammation” (EXC2167). Christoph Lange and Jan Heyckendorf
are supported by the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF). Thorsen Brenner,
Marc M Berger, Oliver Witzke und Anke Hinney are supported by the Stiftung
Universitätsmedizin Essen. Marialbert Acosta-Herrera was supported by Juan de la
Cierva Incorporacion program, grant IJC2018-035131-I funded by
MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. Eva C Schulte is supported by the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; SCHU 2419/2-1).N
Regulatory role of vitamin D in T-cell reactivity against myelin peptides in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients
Background: Low levels of plasma 25-hydroxyvitaminD (25(OH)D) are associated with a higher incidence of multiple sclerosis (MS) due to the immune suppressive properties of vitamin D. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between plasma 25(OH)D concentrations and clinical and immunological variables in a cohort of multiple sclerosis patients. Methods: Plasma 25(OH)D concentrations were evaluated in summer and winter in 15 primary progressive MS (PPMS) patients, 40 relapsing- remitting MS (RRMS) patients and 40 controls (HC). Protocol variables included demographic and clinical data, radiological findings and immunological variables (oligoclonal bands, HLADR15 and T-lymphocyte proliferation to a definite mix of 7 myelin peptides). Results: During the winter, plasma concentrations were significantly lower in RRMS patients compared to HC, whereas no differences were found in summer. No relationships were found between plasma 25(OH)D concentrations and clinical or radiological variables. RRMS patients with a positive T-cell proliferation to a mix of myelin peptides (n = 31) had lower 25(OH)D concentrations. Conclusions: 25(OH)D is an immunomodulatory molecule that might have a regulatory role in T-cell proliferation to myelin peptides in RRMS patients
Comparative study of clinical grade human tolerogenic dendritic cells
Altres ajuts: Fundació La Marató de TV3 (07/2410) i Fundació GAEM.BACKGROUND:The use of tolerogenic DCs is a promising therapeutic strategy for transplantation and autoimmune disorders. Immunomodulatory DCs are primarily generated from monocytes (MDDCs) for in vitro experiments following protocols that fail to fulfil the strict regulatory rules of clinically applicable products. Here, we compared the efficacy of three different tolerance-inducing agents, dexamethasone, rapamycin and vitamin D3, on DC biology using GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) or clinical grade reagents with the aim of defining their use for human cell therapy. METHODS: Tolerogenic MDDCs were generated by adding tolerogenic agents prior to the induction of maturation using TNF-α, IL-β and PGE2. We evaluated the effects of each agent on viability, efficiency of differentiation, phenotype, cytokine secretion and stability, the stimulatory capacity of tol-DCs and the T-cell profiles induced. RESULTS: Differences relevant to therapeutic applicability were observed with the cellular products that were obtained. VitD3-induced tol-DCs exhibited a slightly reduced viability and yield compared to Dexa-and Rapa-tol-DCs. Phenotypically, while Dexa-and VitD3-tol-DCs were similar to immature DCs, Rapa-tol-DCs were not distinguishable from mature DCs. In addition, only Dexa-and moderately VitD3-tol-DCs exhibited IL-10 production. Interestingly, in all cases, the cytokine secretion profiles of tol-DCs were not modified by a subsequent TLR stimulation with LPS, indicating that all products had stable phenotypes. Functionally, clearly reduced alloantigen T cell proliferation was induced by tol-DCs obtained using any of these agent. Also, total interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) secretion by T cells stimulated with allogeneic tol-DCs was reduced in all three cases, but only T cells co-cultured with Rapa-tol-DCs showed impaired intracellular IFN-γ production. In addition, Rapa-DCs promoted CD4+ CD127 low/negative CD25high and Foxp3+ T cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate contrasting influences of different clinical-grade pharmacological agents on human tol-DC generation. This should be taken into account for decisions on the use of a specific agent for the appropriate cellular therapy in the context of a particular disease