Immune Regulation News Volume 3.19 | May 27 2011

New Method to Replicate Immunity-Boosting Cells to Benefit Transplant Patients, According to Penn, Minnesota Study
Scientists describe how immune cells engineered at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania can be replicated by the tens of millions in several weeks. This is a dramatic increase over previous duplication methods and will give patients a better chance of having a successful bone marrow or organ transplant. [Press release from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine discussing online prepublication in Science Translational Medicine]

Improving Health Assessments with a Single Cell: Caltech Researchers Develop Quick, Low-Cost, and Portable Microchip for Immune Monitoring and Clinical Applications
Research has shown that a new generation of microchips can quickly and inexpensively assess immune function by examining biomarkers from single cells. [Press release from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) discussing online prepublication in Nature Medicine]

Innate Immune System Proteins Attack Bacteria by Triggering Bacterial Suicide Mechanisms
A group of proteins that act as the body’s built-in line of defense against invading bacteria use a molecular trick to induce bacteria to destroy themselves, researchers have determined. [Press release from the Indiana University School of Medicine discussing online prepublication in Nature Medicine]

A Clinical Microchip for Evaluation of Single Immune Cells Reveals High Functional Heterogeneity in Phenotypically Similar T Cells
Researchers report a microfluidic platform designed for highly multiplexed (more than ten proteins), reliable, sample-efficient (~1 × 104 cells) and quantitative measurements of secreted proteins from single cells. [Nat Med]

Peptidoglycan Recognition Proteins Kill Bacteria by Activating Protein-Sensing Two-Component Systems
Researchers reveal a previously unknown mechanism by which innate immunity proteins that bind the cell wall or outer membrane exploit the bacterial stress defense response to kill bacteria. [Nat Med]

Tumor Necrosis Factor Induces GSK3 Kinase–Mediated Cross-Tolerance to Endotoxin in Macrophages
Here researchers show that prior exposure to tumor necrosis factor (TNF) induced a tolerant state in macrophages, with less cytokine production after challenge with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and protection from LPS-induced death. [Nat Immunol]

A Cascade of Protein Kinase C Isozymes Promotes Cytoskeletal Polarization in T Cells
By single-cell photoactivation of the T cell antigen receptor, researchers found that three distinct isoforms of protein kinase C were recruited by diacylglycerol to the immunological synapse in two steps. [Nat Immunol]

T Cell Receptor Signal Strength in Treg and iNKT Cell Development Demonstrated by a Novel Fluorescent Reporter Mouse
To further explore this concept, researchers generated transgenic mice expressing GFP from the immediate early gene Nr4a1 (Nur77) locus. [J Exp Med]

High Affinity Memory B Cells Induced by Conjugate Vaccines against Weak Tumor Antigens are Vulnerable to Non-Conjugated Antigen
Researchers showed previously using lymphoma-derived idiotypic antigen that exposure to “helpless” antigen silences the majority of memory IgG-positive B cells. Transfer experiments now reveal that silencing is permanent. [Blood]

MHC Class II Epitope Nesting Modulates Dendritic Cell Function and Improves Generation of Antigen-Specific CD4 Helper T Cells
In this study, researchers sought to determine whether MHC class II peptides could be modified with amino acid sequences that facilitated uptake and presentation with the goal of improving Th cell activation in vitro and in vivo. [J Immunol]

Coordinate Regulation of GATA-3 and Th2 Cytokine Gene Expression by the RNA-Binding Protein HuR
Researchers report that in parallel with stimulus-induced increase in GATA-3 mRNA and protein levels, GATA-3 mRNA half-life is increased after restimulation in the human T cell line Jurkat, in human memory and Th2 cells, and in murine Th2-skewed cells. [J Immunol]

Functional Involvement of DUSP16, a JNK-Specific Phosphatase, in the Regulation of T Helper Cell Differentiation
Here researchers show that dual specificity phosphatase 16 (DUSP16, also referred to as MKP-M or MKP-7), which preferentially inactivates JNK, is selectively expressed in Th2 cells. [J Biol Chem]

Massive ex Vivo Expansion of Human Natural Regulatory T Cells (Tregs) with Minimal Loss of in Vivo Functional Activity
The capability to efficiently produce donor cell banks of functional natural CD4+CD25+ Tregs could transform the treatment of graft-versus-host disease and autoimmunity by providing an off-the-shelf, cost-effective, and proven cellular therapy. [Sci Transl Med]

Adaptimmune Announces Opening of Phase I/II Clinical Trial in Multiple Myeloma
Adaptimmune announced that it has opened a Phase I/II, dual site, two-cohort, open-label clinical trial in multiple myeloma at the University of Maryland and the University of Pennsylvania testing its enhanced T cell receptor T cell therapy. [Adaptimmune Press Release]

CEL-SCI Corporation Study Shows LEAPS Dendritic Cell Therapy to Be Effective in Treating H1N1 Virus
CEL-SCI Corporation announced the positive results of efficacy studies in mice of L.E.A.P.S.TM (Ligand Epitope Antigen Presentation System) H1N1 activated dendritic cells (DCs) to treat the H1N1 virus. [CEL-SCI Corporation Press Release]

Nature Perspective Offers 2020 Vision of Vaccines for Malaria, TB & HIV/AIDS
In the May 26, 2011, edition of the premier scientific journal Nature, Seattle BioMed Director Alan Aderem, Ph.D., along with Rino Rappuoli, Ph.D., Global Head of Vaccines Research for Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics, discuss recent advances in vaccine development, along with new tools including systems biology and structure-based antigen design that could lead to a deeper understanding of mechanisms of protection. [Seattle BioMed Press Release]

HudsonAlpha Researchers to Sequence Immune Repertoires of 10K Individuals for 100 Diseases
The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology has launched a project that aims to sequence the immune repertoires of 10,000 individuals representing 100 diseases, including cancers, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases, and infectious diseases. [GenomeWeb]

National Institutes of Health (United States)

Food and Drug Administration (United States)

Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (United States)

European Medicines Agency (European Union)

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (United Kingdom)

Therapeutic Goods Administration (Australia)

NEW Autoimmunity Congress Asia
November 17-19, 2011
Singapore

Visit our events page to see a complete list of events in the immune regulation community.

Scientist – Human Monoclonal Antibody Discovery (Arsanis Biosciences)

Implementation Coordinator – Maternity Leave Contract (STEMSOFT Software Inc.)

Postdoctoral Research Position – Mucosal Immunology (Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University)

Research Officer Antibody Engineering (Glenmark Pharmaceuticals S.A.)

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