Immune Regulation News Volume 3.25 | Jul 15 2011

Genetic Study Sheds New Light on Auto-Immune Arthritis
Researchers are one step closer to understanding how an individual’s genetic make-up predisposes them to Ankylosing Spondylitis. [Press Release from the University of Bristol discussing online prepublication in Nature Genetics]

Study Shows Link Between Immune System Suppression and Blood Vessel Formation in Tumors
Researchers found that ovarian cancer cells grown under low oxygen conditions – which promote blood vessel formation — secrete chemical signals that suppress the patient’s immune system, preventing it from killing off the abnormal cancer cells. [Press release from the University of Pennsylvania Health System discussing online prepublication in Nature]

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Demonstrates T Cell Immune Response Durability with Fourth Dose of Therapeutic Cervical Dysplasia and Cancer DNA Vaccine
Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has reported data demonstrating long-term durability of T cell immune responses of up to over two years in 7 of 8 evaluated patients following a fourth vaccination of VGX-3100, its investigational SynCon® DNA vaccine for treating cervical dysplasia and cancer caused by human papillomavirus that is delivered using intramuscular electroporation. [Press release from Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. discussing research presented at DNA Vaccines 2011]

Interaction Between ERAP1 and HLA-B27 in Ankylosing Spondylitis Implicates Peptide Handling in the Mechanism for HLA-B27 in Disease Susceptibility
Here researchers report the identification of three variants in the RUNX3, LTBR-TNFRSF1A and IL12B regions convincingly associated with ankylosing spondylitis (P < 5 × 10⁻⁸ in the combined discovery and replication datasets) and a further four loci at PTGER4, TBKBP1, ANTXR2 and CARD9 that show strong association across all our datasets (P < 5 × 10⁻⁶ overall, with support in each of the three datasets studied). [Nat Genet]

Tumor Hypoxia Promotes Tolerance and Angiogenesis via CCL28 and T_reg Cells
Here researchers show that tumor hypoxia promotes the recruitment of regulatory T (T_reg) cells through induction of expression of the chemokine CC-chemokine ligand 28 (CCL28), which, in turn, promotes tumor tolerance and angiogenesis. [Nature]

Essential Role for the Prolyl Isomerase Pin1 in Toll-Like Receptor Signaling and Type I Interferon–Mediated Immunity
Researchers found that toll-like receptor (TLR)7 and TLR9 activated the isomerase Pin1, which then bound to IRAK1; this resulted in activation of IRAK1 and facilitated its release from the receptor complex to activate the transcription factor IRF7 and induce type I interferons. [Nat Immunol]

Rapamycin and IL-2 Reduce Lethal Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease Associated with Increased Expansion of Donor Type CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ Regulatory T Cells
Researchers investigated whether the combination of rapamycin plus IL-2 could impact acute graft-versus-host disease induction after bone marrow transplantation. [Blood]

Autoimmune Regulator (AIRE)-Deficient CD8⁺CD28^low Regulatory T Lymphocytes Fail to Control Experimental Colitis
Here researchers show that CD8⁺CD28^low regulatory T lymphocytes from AIRE-deficient mice are transcriptionally and phenotypically normal and exert efficient suppression of in vitro immune responses, but completely fail to prevent experimental colitis in vivo. [Proc Nat Acad Sci USA]

Inhibition of MicroRNA let-7i Depresses Maturation and Functional State of Dendritic Cells in Response to Lipopolysaccharide Stimulation via Targeting Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling 1
Researchers demonstrate that let-7i regulation of suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 is critical for LPS-induced dendritic cell maturation and immune function. [J Immunol]

Therapeutic Effectiveness of Intratumorally Delivered Dendritic Cells Engineered to Express the Pro-Inflammatory Cytokine, Interleukin (IL)-32
To evaluate the antitumor impact of IL-32 gene therapy, researchers treated BALB/c mice bearing established subcutaneous CMS4 sarcomas with intratumoral injections of syngenic dendritic cells engineered to express human IL-32β complementary DNA. [Cancer Gene Ther]

CD137 Differentially Regulates Innate and Adaptive Immunity Against Mycobacterium Tuberculosis
Here researchers investigated the function of CD137 and CD137L, molecules known to have a central role in immune regulation, during human tuberculosis. [Immunol Cell Biol]

Complement Component 5a Promotes Expression of IL-22 and IL-17 from Human T Cells and its Implication in Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Researchers’ aim was to study whether complement component 5a can impact human T cells and its implication in age related macular degeneration. [J Transl Med]

Hutchinson Center to Lead a $20 Million Research Project to Explore a Potential Cure for HIV Infection
Whether a stem cell transplant using an HIV-infected person’s own genetically modified immune cells can become a cure for the disease is the focus of a new $20 million, five-year research grant award announced by the National Institutes of Health. [Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Press Release]

Health Canada Approves BENLYSTA™ The First New Treatment for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in Almost 50 Years
Health Canada has approved BENLYSTATM (belimumab), a new drug specific for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus. [GlaxoSmithKline Inc. Press Release]

Micromet Announces Solid Tumor BiTE Antibody Collaboration with Amgen
Micromet, Inc. announced that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with Amgen Inc. for the research of BiTE antibodies against three undisclosed solid tumor targets. [Micromet, Inc. Press Release]

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 Inaugural BioProcessing, Biologics & Biotherapeutics Congress
July 20-21, 2011
Edinburgh, Scotland

NEW Singapore Stem Cell Society Symposium 2011
November 17-18, 2011
Singapore

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