Human Immunology News Volume 4.48 | Dec 6 2016

TOP STORY

Interleukin-33-Induced Expression of PIBF1 by Decidual B Cells Protects against Preterm Labor

Investigators found that choriodecidua of women undergoing spontaneous preterm labor harbored functionally altered B cell populations. [Nat Med] Abstract

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Heterogeneous yet Stable Vδ2(⁺) T-Cell Profiles Define Distinct Cytotoxic Effector Potentials in Healthy Human Individuals

Researchers revealed previously unappreciated functional heterogeneity between the Vδ2(⁺) T-cell compartments of 63 healthy individuals. In this cohort, they identified distinct “Vδ2 profiles” that are stable over time; that do not correlate with age, gender, or history of phosphoantigen activation; and that develop after leaving the thymus. [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA] Abstract

1-Methyl-Tryptophan Attenuates Regulatory T Cells Differentiation Due to the Inhibition of Estrogen-IDO1-MRC2 Axis in Endometriosis

Scientists showed that the proportion of peritoneal regulatory T cells increases as endometriosis progresses. To determine the probable mechanism, they established a naive T cell-macrophage-endometrial stromal cell co-culture system to mimic the peritoneal cavity microenvironment. [Cell Death Dis] Full Article

Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Instruct Monocytes towards an IL10-Producing Phenotype by Secreting IL6 and HGF

The authors found that UC-MSCs suppressed monocyte differentiation into DCs and instructed monocytes towards other cell types, with clear decreases in the expression of co-stimulatory molecules, in the secretion of inflammatory factors and in allostimulatory capacity. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Global Gene Regulation during Activation of Immunoglobulin Class Switching in Human B Cells

To profile the B-cell transcriptional responses underlying the activation of the germinal center activities leading to the generation of IgE, naïve human B-cells were stimulated with IL-4 and anti-CD40. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Human Regulatory T Cells Mediate Transcriptional Modulation of Dendritic Cell Function

Researchers present novel evidence that regulatory T cell-dendritic cell skewed CD4⁺ naive T cell polarization toward a regulatory phenotype and impaired CD8⁺ T cell allo-reactive responses, including their ability to induce target tissue damage in a unique in vitro human graft-versus-host disease skin explant model. [J Immunol] Abstract

Targeting of the WT1_91–138 Fragment to Human Dendritic Cells Improves Leukemia-Specific T-Cell Responses Providing an Alternative Approach to WT1-Based Vaccination

Investigators developed antibody fusion proteins consisting of an antibody specific for the DEC205 endocytic receptor on human dendritic cells (DCs) and various fragments of Wilms tumor protein 1 (WT1) as DC-targeting recombinant WT1 vaccines. [Cancer Immunol Immunother] Abstract

AMP Kinase Promotes Bcl6 Expression in Both Mouse and Human T Cells

Scientists showed that Bcl6 is highly up-regulated in activated CD4 T cells following glucose deprivation (GD), and this pathway is insensitive to inhibition by IL-2. Similar to GD, the glucose analog 2-deoxyglucose (2DG) inhibits glycolysis, and 2DG induced Bcl6 expression in activated CD4 T cells. [Mol Immunol] Abstract

Human Amniotic Epithelial Cells Inhibit CD4⁺ T Cell Activation in Acute Kidney Injury Patients by Influencing the miR-101-c-Rel-IL-2 Pathway

The authors hypothesized that human amniotic epithelial cells (HuAECs) could weaken patient-derived peripheral blood CD4⁺ T-cell activation and decreasing the ability of these cells to express and release IL-2. Cell proliferation assay revealed that under the same culture conditions, activated acute kidney injury patient-derived CD4⁺ T cells had a significantly reduced proliferation rate when were co-cultured with HuAECs. [Mol Immunol] Abstract

Cross-Talk between iNKT Cells and Monocytes Triggers an Atheroprotective Immune Response in SLE Patients with Asymptomatic Plaque

Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with asymptomatic plaque had increased proliferation and interleukin-4 production compared with those from SLE patients with no plaque. The anti-inflammatory iNKT cell phenotype was associated with dyslipidemia and was driven by altered monocyte phospholipid expression and CD1d-mediated cross-talk between iNKT cells and monocytes but not B cells. [Sci Immunol] Abstract

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Human Immune System Variation

The human immune system is highly variable between individuals but relatively stable over time within a given person. Recent conceptual and technological advances have enabled systems immunology analyses, which reveal the composition of immune cells and proteins in populations of healthy individuals. [Nat Rev Immunol] Abstract

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CD19-Targeting CAR T-Cell Immunotherapy Yields High Responses in Treatment-Resistant CLL

In a small, early phase trial, a high percentage of patients who had exhausted most traditional treatments for chronic lymphocytic leukemia saw their tumors shrink or even disappear after an infusion of a highly targeted, experimental CAR T-cell immunotherapy. [Press release from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center discussing research presented at the 58^th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, San Diego] Press Release

Kiadis Pharma Presents Positive 1-Year Follow-Up Data of its Pivotal Phase II Trial with ATIR101™

Kiadis Pharma N.V. presented positive one-year data with its lead product ATIR101™ from the single dose Phase II trial. [Press release from Kiadis Pharma N.V. discussing research presented at the 58^th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, San Diego] Press Release

In Clinical Trials, CAR T Cell Immunotherapy Continues to Yield Complete Responses in Children & Young Adults with Relapsed and Refractory Leukemia

A highly innovative, personalized cell-based treatment for a high-risk form of the most common childhood cancer continues to move through clinical trials. Pediatric oncologists from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia reported new results using T cell immunotherapy against relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia. [Press release from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia discussing research presented at the 58^th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, San Diego] Press Release

IBM and Pfizer to Accelerate Immuno-Oncology Research with Watson for Drug Discovery

IBM Watson Health and Pfizer Inc. announced a collaboration that will utilize IBM Watson for Drug Discovery to help accelerate Pfizer’s research in immuno-oncology, an approach to cancer treatment that uses the body’s immune system to help fight cancer. [IBM] Press Release

Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and Cancer Research Institute Launch Collaboration on Cancer Neoantigens

The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and the Cancer Research Institute announced a major collaboration focused on neoantigens. The search for these unique cancer markers has become a robust area of research as scientists believe they may hold the key to developing a new generation of personalized, targeted cancer immunotherapies. [Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy] Press Release

Help Wanted: Canada Begins Search for Chief Science Adviser

Canada has officially launched its search for a chief government science adviser, fulfilling a campaign promise by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Science Minister Kirsty Duncan announced the move on 5 December, after spending the past year consulting scientists about the exact role that such an adviser should have. [Nature News] Editorial

Congress Is Poised to Back NSF’s Approach to Research

Congress has reached a truce—and possibly a lasting settlement—in the fiercely partisan three-year war between Republican leaders in the House of Representatives and the scientific community over how the National Science Foundation (NSF) should operate. The terms of the agreement, between House and Senate negotiators, may seem like minor changes. But the compromise, which the Senate could adopt as early as this week, resolves differences over how NSF should conduct peer review and manage research in ways that the agency thinks it can live with. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

Maryland Congressman in Running to Head NIH?

Representative Andy Harris (R–MD), an anesthesiologist who has shown a keen interest in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) while in Congress, has put his hat in the ring for NIH director in the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, he told ScienceInsider. Harris says he knows that some biomedical scientists would view him as a controversial choice, but argues that his blend of research and political experience would make him a good advocate for addressing NIH’s flaws and for growing the agency’s budget in a time of fiscal restraint. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

NEW Keystone Symposium: Inflammation-Driven Cancer: Mechanisms to Therapy
February 5-9, 2017
Keystone, United States

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NEW Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Immune Regeneration (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)

Faculty Positions – Cancer Immunology (University of New Mexico)

Postdoctoral Position – Immunology of HIV-1 and Cancer (University of Alabama at Birmingham)

Postdoctoral Researcher Position – Immunology/Molecular Biology (Duke University)

Postdoctoral Position – Development of Immune System (Lund University)

Scientist – T Cells in Autoimmune Diabetes (Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen)

Assistant Professor – Microbiology and Immunology (University of California, San Francisco)

Postdoctoral Fellow or Research Associate – Immunology (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center – Harvard Medical School)

Postdoctoral Fellowship – Immunology (Brigham and Women’s Hospital)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Molecular Immunology (University of California San Diego School of Medicine)

Postdoctoral Fellow Position – Stem Cell Biology & Immunology (Toronto General Research Institute & McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine)

Assistant Associate – Cancer Immunology (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)

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