Human Immunology News Volume 8.06 | Feb 18 2020

TOP STORY

An Immune-Cell Signature of Bacterial Sepsis

Researchers used single-cell RNA-sequencing to profile the blood of people with sepsis across three clinical cohorts with corresponding controls. They profiled total peripheral blood mononuclear cells and dendritic cells across all subjects and, on the basis of clustering of their gene-expression profiles, defined 16 immune-cell states. [Nat Med] Abstract

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Distinct Microbial and Immune Niches of the Human Colon

The authors simultaneously assessed microbiota and single immune cells across the healthy, adult human colon, with paired characterization of immune cells in the mesenteric lymph nodes, to delineate colonic immune niches at steady state. [Nat Immunol] Abstract

Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 Supports a Pulmonary Niche that Promotes Type 3 Innate Lymphoid Cell Development in Newborn Lungs

Investigators demonstrated that pulmonary type 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s) descended from ILC precursors that populated a niche defined by fibroblasts in the developing lung. Alveolar fibroblasts produced insulin-like growth factor 1, which instructed expansion and maturation of pulmonary ILC precursors. [Immunity] Abstract | Graphical Abstract

Rapid Identification of Human Mast Cell Degranulation Regulators Using Functional Genomics Coupled to High-Resolution Confocal Microscopy

Scientists developed an imaging system in which mast cell degranulation could be visualized in single cells subjected to shRNA knockdown or CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. [Nat Protoc] Abstract

Immunoproteasome Expression Is Associated with Better Prognosis and Response to Checkpoint Therapies in Melanoma

Researchers describe that the overexpression of PSMB8 and PSMB9, two major components of the immunoproteasome, was predictive of better survival and improved response to immune-checkpoint inhibitors of melanoma patients. They studied the mechanism underlying this connection by analyzing the antigenic peptide repertoire of cells that overexpressed these subunits using HLA peptidomics. [Nat Commun] Full Article

HIF1α Regulates Early Metabolic Changes Due to Activation of Innate Immunity in Nuclear Reprogramming

The authors showed that hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF1α), a central regulator of adaptation to limiting oxygen tension, was an unexpected but crucial regulator of innate immune-mediated nuclear reprogramming. [Stem Cell Reports] Full Article | Graphical Abstract

Intravenous Indocyanine Green Dye Is Insufficient for Robust Immune Cell Labeling in the Human Retina

Matched peripheral blood samples were obtained to examine systemic immune cell labeling and activation from ICG by flow cytometry with human macrophage cultures as positive controls. [PLoS One] Full Article

Extracellular Allograft Inflammatory Factor-1 (AIF-1) Potentiates Th1 Cell Differentiation and Inhibits Treg Response in Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells from Normal Subjects

Investigators identified the presence of AIF-1 in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells from normal subjects by immunocytological methods. [Hum Immunol] Abstract

Type 1 Diabetes Progression Is Associated with Loss of CD3⁺CD56⁺ Regulatory T Cells that Control CD8⁺ T-Cell Effector Functions

Scientists showed that peripheral frequency of a regulatory T cell population, characterized by the coexpression of CD3 and CD56 molecules, was reduced in individuals with new-onset type 1 diabetes. [Nat Metab] Abstract

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The Role of Innate Lymphoid Cells in Response to Microbes at Mucosal Surfaces

The authors focus on the role of innate lymphoid cells in response to the microbiota and to microbial infections of the lung and intestine. [Mucosal Immunol] Full Article

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GRAIL Initiates First Interventional Study Using Its Multi-Cancer Early Detection Test to Guide Clinical Care

GRAIL, Inc. announced the initiation of the PATHFINDER Study. A prospective, multi-center study, PATHFINDER marks the first time GRAIL’s test results will be returned to healthcare providers and communicated to participants to help guide appropriate diagnostic workup for more than 50 cancer types. [GRAIL, Inc.] Press Release

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Accepts for Priority Review Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Biologics License Application (BLA) for Lisocabtagene Maraleucel (liso-cel) for Adult Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Large B-Cell Lymphoma

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company announced that the FDA has accepted for Priority Review its BLA for liso-cel, the company’s autologous anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy with a defined composition of purified CD8⁺ and CD4⁺ CAR T cells for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma after at least two prior therapies. [Bristol-Myers Squibb Company] Press Release

‘The Disruption Is Enormous.’ Coronavirus Epidemic Snarls Science Worldwide

Normal daily life has come to a virtual standstill in large parts of China as a result of the epidemic of COVID-19—and so has science. Universities across the country remain closed; access to labs is restricted, projects have been mothballed, field work interrupted, and travel severely curtailed. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

Harvard, Yale Investigated for Undisclosed Foreign Funding

The US Department of Education is investigating Harvard and Yale Universities for allegedly failing to disclose funds from other nations, according to a statement released February 12. First reported by the Wall Street Journal, the investigations are the latest in a series of efforts by the department to crack down on foreign influence in US institutions. [The Scientist] Editorial

NEW Keystone Symposia: Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy
March 22-26, 2020
Whistler, British Columbia, Canada

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NEW Research Fellow – Angiogenesis in Immune Regulation and Homing (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute)

Scientist – Immunology (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

Research Associate – Human Immunology (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

Research Associate – Bioengineering (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Plasma Cell Development (Western Michigan University)

Postdoctoral Fellow – T and B Cells in Celiac Disease (University of Oslo)

Professorship – Antimicrobial Resistance (University Hospital of Cologne)

Research Scientist – Immuno-Oncology (Ervaxx)

Chief – Division of Immunology (Boston Children’s Hospital)

Research Assistant Professor – Immunology (The University of Chicago)

Postdoctoral Fellowship – Breast Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy (The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Immune Defense and HIV (Massachusetts General Hospital)

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