BACKGROUND Immunotherapy inhibits basophil histamine release, but the assay is cumbersome, and no one has studied the effects of immunotherapy withdrawal. OBJECTIVE Intracellular fluorochrome-labeled diamine oxidase (DAO) was used as a novel functional readout of basophil histamine release after immunotherapy. Results were compared with conventional basophil surface expression of activation m...

Dendritic cells (DCs) are antigen presenting cells with unique capability to take up and process antigens in the peripheral blood and tissues. They subsequently migrate to draining lymph nodes where they present these antigens and stimulate naive T lympho-cytes. During their life cycle, DCs go through two maturation stages and are referred to as immature and mature cells, respectively. While im...

The past decade has seen considerable excitement in the use of biological therapies in treating neoplastic disease. In particular, cancer immunotherapy and oncolytic virotherapy have emerged as two frontrunners in this regard with the first FDA approvals for agents in both categories being obtained in the last 5 years. It is becoming increasingly apparent that these two approaches are not mutua...

Immunotherapy has demonstrated impressive outcomes for some patients with cancer. However, selecting patients who are most likely to respond to immunotherapy remains a clinical challenge. Here, we discuss immune escape mechanisms exploited by cancer and present strategies for applying this knowledge to improving the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy.

Cancer immunotherapy holds great promise, yet its efficacy and applicability can be hampered by the rise of systemic toxicities. We have recently shown that the lethal side effects of cancer immunotherapy are markedly exacerbated with aging. Blocking tumor necrosis factor α or macrophages can alleviate the systemic toxicity of immunotherapy while preserving its antineoplastic effects.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains one of the major causes of death worldwide, despite steady improvement in early detection and overall survival over the past decade. Current treatment paradigms, with chemotherapy and biologics, appear to have reached their maximum benefit. Immunotherapy, especially with checkpoint inhibitors, has shown considerable clinical benefit in various cancers, including ...

The range of treatments for hay fever available to the general practitioner has changed considerably in recent years. New antihistamines have addressed the problem of sedation and moved towards one daily dose; nasally applied corticosteroids avoid the need for systemic steroid therapy and its potential adverse effect; and regulatory decisions have set a trend away from immunotherapy in general ...

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) can be divided into circular non-coding RNAs (circRNAs) and linear ncRNAs. ncRNAs exist in different cell types, including normal cells, tumor cells and immunocytes. Linear ncRNAs, such as long ncRNAs and microRNAs, have been found to play important roles in the regulation of tumor immunity and immunotherapy; however, the functions of circRNAs in tumor immunity and immu...

Background. Pollen immunotherapy is effective in selected patients with IgE-mediated seasonal allergic rhinitis, although it is questionable whether there is long-term benefit after the discontinuation of treatment. Methods. We conducted a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of the discontinuation of immunotherapy for grass pollen allergy in patients in whom three to four years o...

As neuroscientists, we are taught that the brain is immune privileged and thus unlikely to be affected by the peripheral immune system. Accordingly, initial results demonstrating the effectiveness of beta-amyloid (Abeta) immunotherapy in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease (AD) were viewed with considerable surprise and some skepticism. Many groups have since demonstrated efficacy with Abeta im...