Aspergillus fumigatus-sensitized CCR4-deficient (CCR4-/-) mice exhibit an accelerated clearance of conidia during fungal asthma. In the present study, we examined the roles of CCL17 and CCL22, two CCR4 ligands, during pulmonary invasive aspergillosis in neutropenic mice. Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis revealed that wild-type C57BL/6 (CCR4+/+) mice were significantly protected from the let...

Chemokines play a key role in the regulation of cell trafficking during immune responses. In pollen-allergic individuals, the roles of chemokines have been predominantly studied during active allergic reactions. However, little is known about chemokine levels and their effect on immune responses out of the pollen season when atopic individuals do not show clinical symptoms of allergy. Therefore...

AIMS Medullary breast cancer (MBC) is a biologically distinct subtype of breast cancer characterized by prominent lymphocytic infiltrates and a favourable clinical outcome. Tumour-infiltrating CD8+ effector T cells may contribute to the good prognosis of this type of cancer; however, certain subtypes of lymphocyte, such as FoxP3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs), can also suppress antitumour immunity...

Objective In China in 2009, esophageal cancer was the fifth most commonly diagnosed malignancy and the fourth leading cause of malignancy-related death. Accumulating evidence indicates that genetic factors might play an important role in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) carcinogenesis. Materials and Methods In total, we recruited 629 ESCC patients and 686 controls. Genetic variations...

Adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) is an aggressive malignancy caused by human T cell lymphotropic virus type-I (HTLV-I) without curative treatment at present. To illuminate the pathogenesis of ATLL we performed whole transcriptome sequencing of purified ATLL patient samples and discovered recurrent somatic mutations in CCR4, encoding CC chemokine receptor 4. CCR4 mutations were detected in ...

Similar to macrophages, microglia adopt diverse activation states and contribute to repair and tissue damage in multiple sclerosis. Using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry, we show that in vitro M1-polarized (proinflammatory) human adult microglia express the distinctive markers CD74, CD40, CD86, and CCR7, whereas M2 (anti-inflammatory) microg...

The random amino acid copolymer poly(Y,E,A,K)(n) (Copaxone®) is widely used in multiple sclerosis treatment and a second generation copolymer poly(Y,F,A,K)(n) with enhanced efficacy in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in mice has been described. A major mechanism through which copolymers function to ameliorate disease is the generation of immunosuppressive IL-10-secreting regulatory T ...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS). It affects more than two million people worldwide, mainly young adults, and may lead to progressive neurological disability. Chemokines and their receptors have been shown to play critical roles in the pathogenesis of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a murine disease mode...

Excessive signaling by chemokines has been associated with chronic inflammation or cancer, thus attracting substantial attention as promising therapeutic targets. Inspired by chemokine-clearing molecules shaped by pathogens to escape the immune system, we designed a generic screening assay to discover chemokine neutralizing molecules (neutraligands) and unambiguously distinguish them from molec...