参考文献

Activation of natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity requires adhesion and formation of a conjugate with a susceptible target cell,followed by actin polymerization,and polarization of the microtubule organizing center (MTOC) and cytolytic granules to the NK cell immune synapse. Here,by using the YTS NK cell line as a model,CD28 is shown to be an activating receptor. It signals cytotoxicity in a process dependent on phosphoinositide-3 kinase activation,leading to sustained extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 (ERK2) phosphorylation. ERK and phospho-ERK localize to microtubule filaments. Neither conjugation with targets nor actin polymerization is affected by blocking ERK2 activation. However,both polarization of the MTOC and cytolytic granules to the synaptic region and NK cell cytotoxicity are strongly reduced by blocking ERK2 activation. A role for the CD28/CD80 interaction in cytotoxicity of human peripheral NK cells also was established. By contrast,lymphocyte function-associated antigen 1 (LFA-1) ligation transduces only a transient ERK2 activation and fails to induce killing in YTS cells. Thus,in YTS cells,a CD28 signal is used to polarize the MTOC and cytolytic granules to the NK cell immune synapse by stimulating sustained ERK2 activation. View Publication

The hope of developing new transplantation therapies for degenerative diseases is limited by inefficient stem cell growth and immunological incompatibility with the host. Here we show that Notch receptor activation induces the expression of the specific target genes hairy and enhancer of split 3 (Hes3) and Sonic hedgehog (Shh) through rapid activation of cytoplasmic signals,including the serine/threonine kinase Akt,the transcription factor STAT3 and mammalian target of rapamycin,and thereby promotes the survival of neural stem cells. In both murine somatic and human embryonic stem cells,these positive signals are opposed by a control mechanism that involves the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase. Transient administration of Notch ligands to the brain of adult rats increases the numbers of newly generated precursor cells and improves motor skills after ischaemic injury. These data indicate that stem cell expansion in vitro and in vivo,two central goals of regenerative medicine,may be achieved by Notch ligands through a pathway that is fundamental to development and cancer. View Publication

OBJECTIVE: Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are endowed with multilineage differentiative potential and immunomodulatory properties. It is still a matter of debate whether donor MSCs have sustained engraftment potential in host bone marrow (BM) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). The aim of this study was to analyze the donor/recipient origin of MSCs in children receiving allogeneic either BM or cord blood (CB) transplantation. METHODS: Thirty-seven pediatric patients undergoing allo-HSCT for either a malignant or a nonmalignant disorder were enrolled in the study; 19 received CB and 18 BM transplantation. Results were compared with those obtained in 14 adults given BM transplantation for either malignant or nonmalignant disorders. MSCs were grown from BM aspirates obtained 1-17 and 2-192 months after allo-HSCT in pediatric and adult patients,respectively. MSC samples at the third-fourth passage were phenotypically characterized. Donor/recipient origin of MSCs was assessed by amelogenin assay and microsatellite analysis. RESULTS: MSCs could be grown from 30 of 37 children; at the third-fourth passage MSCs resulted positive (textgreater or = 98%) for CD73,CD105,CD106,CD29,CD13,CD44 and negative (textless or = 1%) for CD34,CD45,CD14. Mixed chimerism with donor cells was observed in 4 BM and 5 CB transplantation recipients,respectively; full recipient chimerism was detected in the remaining children. Full recipient MSC chimerism was observed also in all assessable (12/14) adult patients. CONCLUSIONS: BM of pediatric patients might be a more favorable milieu than that of adults for sustained engraftment of transplanted MSCs. MSCs able to engraft in the host can be transferred with cryopreserved CB units. View Publication

Central issues in intracoronary infusion (ICI) of bone marrow (BM)-cells to damaged myocardium for improving cardiac function are the cell number that is feasible and safe to be administrated as well as the retention of cells in the target area. Our study addressed these issues in eight patients with chronic ischemic cardiomyopathy undergoing ICI of selected BM-progenitors. We could immunomagnetically isolate 0.8 +/- 0.32 x 10(7) CD133(+) cells and 0.75 +/- 0.24 x 10(7) CD133(-)CD34(+) cells from 310 +/- 40 ml BM. After labeling these cells with (99m)Tc-hexamethylpropylenamineoxime,they were infused into the infarct-related artery without any complication. Scintigraphic images 1 (eight patients) and 24 hours (four patients) after ICI revealed an uptake of 9.2% +/- 3.6 and 6.8% +/- 2.4 of the total infused radioactivity in the infarcted area of the heart,respectively; the remaining activity was distributed mainly to liver and spleen. We conclude that through ICI of CD133(+) and CD133(-)CD34(+) BM-progenitors a significant number of them are preferentially attracted to and retained in the chronic ischemic myocardium. View Publication

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) regulates the transcription of genes whose products play critical roles in energy metabolism,erythropoiesis,angiogenesis,and cell survival. Limited information is available concerning its function in mammalian hematopoiesis. Previous studies have demonstrated that homozygosity for a targeted null mutation in the Hif1alpha gene,which encodes the hypoxia-responsive alpha subunit of HIF-1,causes cardiac,vascular,and neural malformations resulting in lethality by embryonic day 10.5 (E10.5). This study revealed reduced myeloid multilineage and committed erythroid progenitors in HIF-1alpha-deficient embryos,as well as decreased hemoglobin content in erythroid colonies from HIF-1alpha-deficient yolk sacs at E9.5. Dysregulation of erythropoietin (Epo) signaling was evident from a significant decrease in mRNA levels of Epo receptor (EpoR) in Hif1alpha-/- yolk sac as well as Epo and EpoR mRNA in Hif1alpha-/- embryos. The erythropoietic defects in HIF-1alpha-deficient erythroid colonies could not be corrected by cytokines,such as vascular endothelial growth factor and Epo,but were ameliorated by Fe-SIH,a compound delivering iron into cells independently of iron transport proteins. Consistent with profound defects in iron homeostasis,Hif1alpha-/- yolk sac and/or embryos demonstrated aberrant mRNA levels of hepcidin,Fpn1,Irp1,and frascati. We conclude that dysregulated expression of genes encoding Epo,EpoR,and iron regulatory proteins contributes to defective erythropoiesis in Hif1alpha-/- yolk sacs. These results identify a novel role for HIF-1 in the regulation of iron homeostasis and reveal unexpected regulatory differences in Epo/EpoR signaling in yolk sac and embryonic erythropoiesis. View Publication

Respiratory failure during Pneumocystis pneumonia is mainly a consequence of exaggerated inflammatory responses to the organism. Dendritic cells (DCs) are the most potent APCs in the lung and are key to the regulation of innate and adaptive immune responses. However,their participation in the inflammatory response directed against Pneumocystis infection has not been fully elucidated. Therefore,we studied the role of Pneumocystis carinii,as well as Saccharomyces cerevisiae,cell wall-derived beta-glucans,in DC costimulatory molecule expression. We further studied the impact of beta-glucans on subsequent T cell activation. Because cytokine secretion by DCs has recently been shown to be regulated by Fas ligand (FasL),its role in beta-glucan activation of DCs was also investigated. beta-Glucan-induced DC activation occurred in part through dectin-1 receptors. We demonstrated that DC activation by beta-glucans elicits T cell activation and polarization into a Th1 patterned response,but with the conspicuous absence of IL-12. These observations differed from LPS-driven T cell polarization,suggesting that beta-glucans and LPS signal DC activation through different mechanisms. We additionally determined that IL-1beta and TNF-alpha secretion by beta-glucan-stimulated DCs was partially regulated by Fas-FasL. This suggests that dysregulation of FasL could further enhance exuberant and prolonged cytokine production by DCs following DC-T cell interactions,further promoting lung inflammation typical of Pneumocystis pneumonia. View Publication

Human complement receptor type 2 (CR2/CD21) is a B lymphocyte membrane glycoprotein that plays a central role in the immune responses to foreign Ags as well as the development of autoimmunity to nuclear Ags in systemic lupus erythematosus. In addition to these three well-characterized ligands,C3d/iC3b,EBV-gp350,and CD23,a previous study has identified CR2 as a potential receptor for IFN-alpha. IFN-alpha,a multifunctional cytokine important in the innate immune system,has recently been proposed to play a major pathogenic role in the development of systemic lupus erythematosus in humans and mice. In this study,we have shown using surface plasmon resonance and ELISA approaches that CR2 will bind IFN-alpha in the same affinity range as the other three well-characterized ligands studied in parallel. In addition,we show that IFN-alpha interacts with short consensus repeat domains 1 and 2 in a region that serves as the ligand binding site for C3d/iC3b,EBV-gp350,and CD23. Finally,we show that treatment of purified human peripheral blood B cells with the inhibitory anti-CR2 mAb 171 diminishes the induction of IFN-alpha-responsive genes. Thus,IFN-alpha represents a fourth class of extracellular ligands for CR2 and interacts with the same domain as the other three ligands. Defining the role of CR2 as compared with the well-characterized type 1 IFN-alpha receptor 1 and 2 in mediating innate immune and autoimmune roles of this cytokine should provide additional insights into the biologic roles of this interaction. View Publication

Langerhans cells (LC) are a unique subset of dendritic cells (DC),present in the epidermis and serving as the first line of defense against pathogens invading the skin. To investigate the role of human LCs in innate immune responses,we examined TLR expression and function of LC-like DCs derived from CD34+ progenitor cells and compared them to DCs derived from peripheral blood monocytes (monocyte-derived DC; Mo-DC). LC-like DCs and Mo-DCs expressed TLR1-10 mRNAs at comparable levels. Although many of the TLR-induced cytokine patterns were similar between the two cell types,stimulation with the TLR3 agonist poly(I:C) triggered significantly higher amounts of the IFN-inducible chemokines CXCL9 (monokine induced by IFN-gamma) and CXCL11 (IFN-gamma-inducible T cell alpha chemoattractant) in LC-like DCs as compared with Mo-DCs. Supernatants from TLR3-activated LC-like DCs reduced intracellular replication of vesicular stomatitis virus in a type I IFN-dependent manner. Finally,CXCL9 colocalized with LCs in skin biopsy specimens from viral infections. Together,our data suggest that LCs exhibit a direct antiviral activity that is dependent on type I IFN as part of the innate immune system. View Publication

Dendritic cells (DCs) are potent mediators of the immune response,and can be activated by exogenous pathogen components. Galectin-1 is a member of the conserved beta-galactoside-binding lectin family that binds galactoside residues on cell surface glycoconjugates. Galectin-1 is known to play a role in immune regulation via action on multiple immune cells. However,its effects on human DCs are unknown. In this study,we show that galectin-1 induces a phenotypic and functional maturation in human monocyte-derived DCs (MDDCs) similar to but distinct from the activity of the exogenous pathogen stimuli,LPS. Immature human MDDCs exposed to galectin-1 up-regulated cell surface markers characteristic of DC maturation (CD40,CD83,CD86,and HLA-DR),secreted high levels of IL-6 and TNF-alpha,stimulated T cell proliferation,and showed reduced endocytic capacity,similar to LPS-matured MDDCs. However,unlike LPS-matured DCs,galectin-1-treated MDDCs did not produce the Th1-polarizing cytokine IL-12. Microarray analysis revealed that in addition to modulating many of the same DC maturation genes as LPS,galectin-1 also uniquely up-regulated a significant subset of genes related to cell migration through the extracellular matrix (ECM). Indeed,compared with LPS,galectin-1-treated human MDDCs exhibited significantly better chemotactic migration through Matrigel,an in vitro ECM model. Our findings show that galectin-1 is a novel endogenous activator of human MDDCs that up-regulates a significant subset of genes distinct from those regulated by a model exogenous stimulus (LPS). One unique effect of galectin-1 is to increase DC migration through the ECM,suggesting that galectin-1 may be an important component in initiating an immune response. View Publication

NK cells express an activating FcR (FcgammaRIIIa) that mediates Ab-dependent cellular cytotoxicity and the production of immune modulatory cytokines in response to Ab-coated targets. IL-21 has antitumor activity in murine models that depends in part on its ability to promote NK cell cytotoxicity and IFN-gamma secretion. We hypothesized that the NK cell response to FcR stimulation would be enhanced by the administration of IL-21. Human NK cells cultured with IL-21 and immobilized IgG or human breast cancer cells coated with a therapeutic mAb (trastuzumab) secreted large amounts of IFN-gamma. Increased secretion of TNF-alpha and the chemokines IL-8,MIP-1alpha,and RANTES was also observed under these conditions. NK cell IFN-gamma production was dependent on distinct signals mediated by the IL-21R and the FcR and was abrogated in STAT1-deficient NK cells. Supernatants derived from NK cells that had been stimulated with IL-21 and mAb-coated breast cancer cells were able to drive the migration of naive and activated T cells in an in vitro chemotaxis assay. IL-21 also enhanced NK cell lytic activity against Ab-coated tumor cells. Coadministration of IL-21 and Ab-coated tumor cells to immunocompetent mice led to synergistic production of IFN-gamma by NK cells. Furthermore,the administration of IL-21 augmented the effects of an anti-HER2/neu mAb in a murine tumor model,an effect that required IFN-gamma. These findings demonstrate that IL-21 significantly enhances the NK cell response to Ab-coated targets and suggest that IL-21 would be an effective adjuvant to administer in combination with therapeutic mAbs. View Publication