Trade-offs between immune function and other physiological and behavioural processes are central in ecoimmunology, but one important problem is how to distinguish a reallocation of resources away from the immune system from a reallocation or redistribution within the immune system. While variation in baseline values of individual immune parameters is well established, studies in wild animals on...

Wilms' tumor (WT1) protein is one of the most promising target antigens for cancer immunotherapy. In fact, clinical responses, such as growth stabilization or shrinkage of tumor with immunological responses, have been reported in patients vaccinated with WT1 peptide. Here, we performed WT1 peptide-based immunotherapy for a patient with chemotherapy-resistant salivary gland cancer, whose histolo...

This brief review will focus on nasopharynx-associated lymphoid tissue as a unique inductive immune site for B cell responses and plasma cell generation. The anatomical and immunological characteristics of Waldeyer's lymphoid ring should make the nasal route for vaccine administration highly relevant in future clinical trials to stimulate both mucosal and systemic immunity. In this context, the...

Similarities in clinical course, age of onset, geographical distribution, and immunological responses of patients with schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis (MS) suggest that these two common illnesses of young adults may belong to a similar class of disorders. This review examines some of the similarities and differences between these two disorders and suggests that epidemiological, immunologic...

Do cancer patients responding to immunotherapy have immunological profiles that influence the therapeutic outcome, or do they develop efficient antitumor responses only upon immunotherapy? We came across this "chicken or the egg" dilemma when treating secondary liver tumors with Semliki Forest viruses expressing interleukin-12. In our system, the "egg," that is, the pre-treatment immunological ...

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play an indispensable role in maintaining immunological unresponsiveness to self-antigens and in suppressing excessive immune responses deleterious to the host. Tregs are produced in the thymus as a functionally mature subpopulation of T cells and can also be induced from naive T cells in the periphery. Recent research reveals the cellular and molecular basis of Treg ...

Approximately 50% of human malignancies carry p53 mutations, which makes it a potential antigenic target for cancer immunotherapy. Adoptive transfer with p53-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) and CD4(+) T-helper cells eradicates p53-overexpressing tumors in mice. Furthermore, p53 antibodies and p53-specific CTLs can be detected in cancer patients, indicating that p53 is immunogenic. Based ...

The glial scar formed by reactive astrocytes and axon growth inhibitors associated with myelin play important roles in the failure of axonal regeneration following central nervous system (CNS) injury. Our laboratory has previously demonstrated that immunological demyelination of the CNS facilitates regeneration of severed axons following spinal cord injury. In the present study, we evaluate whe...

Introduction: Surgery evokes complex metabolic, neuroendocrine and immunological responses. These are reparatory but when exaggerated may cause immunosuppression with morbidity and mortality. It is well-known that these responses are attenuated in laparoscopic cholecystectomy, which is the gold standard for treatment of cholelithiasis. Current novel minimal access techniques of natural orifice ...

The addition of zoledronate to tumor-associated antigen (TAA)-loaded dendritic cells (DCs) promotes the activation of interferon γ-secreting Vγ9 γδ T cells, in turn eliciting TAA-specific CD8+ T-cell responses. Immunological responses induced by zoledronate-pulsed DC-based vaccines have been associated with therapeutic effects in clinical trials.