T cells modulate neointima formation after arterial injury but the specific T cell population that is activated in response to arterial injury remains unknown. The objective of the study was to identify the T cell populations that are activated and modulate neointimal thickening after arterial injury in mice. Arterial injury in wild type C57Bl6 mice resulted in T cell activation characterized b...

Most current models of T cell activation postulate a requirement for two distinct signals. One signal is delivered through the TCR by engagement with peptide/MHC complexes, and the second is delivered by interaction between costimulatory molecules such as CD28 and its ligands CD80 and CD86. Soluble peptide/MHC tetramers provide an opportunity to test whether naive CD8+ T cells can be activated ...

Lipid rafts are important signaling platforms in T cells. Little is known about their properties in human CD8(+) T cells. We studied polarization of lipid rafts by digital immunofluorescence microscopy in primary human T cells, using beads coated with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 mAbs (CD3/28 beads). Unlike CD4(+) T cells, CD8(+) T cells did not polarize lipid rafts when stimulated with CD3/28 beads,...

Asthma affects approximately 300 million people worldwide and is the most common chronic lung disease, which usually is associated with bronchial inflammation. Most research has focused upon the role of CD4+ T cells, and relatively few studies have addressed the phenotypic and functional roles of CD8+ T cell types and subtypes. Human NK-like CD8+ T cells may involve cells that have been describ...

Objective: This study investigated whether T cells immune suppression exist in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) patients. We also investigated peripheral cellular immune responses to recombinant adenovirus vectors expressing wild type p53 (rAd-p53) in oral cancer patients. Materials and methods: We analyzed distributions of peripheral blood T cell subsets in OSCC patients group (OG, n=80) an...

Patients with tuberculosis frequently develop anergy, a state of T-cell hyporesponsiveness in which defective T-cell costimulation could be a factor. To know if the expression of T-cell costimulatory molecules was altered in tuberculosis, we analyzed the peripheral blood T-cell phenotype of 23 Mexican patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. There was severe CD4 (P < .001) and CD8 (P < .01) lympho...

CD28 is the quintessential costimulatory molecule expressed on CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells. During chronic infections and the normal aging process, CD28 expression is lost, compromising the functional activity of T cells. CD28 loss is promoted by replicative stress, particularly in the presence of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, owing to an inoperative CD28 initiator element. It is currently unknown...

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a connective tissue disease characterized by tissue fibrosis, vasculopathy, and autoimmunity. Although the exact pathogenetic mechanisms behind SSc remain to be fully elucidated, a great deal of evidence suggests the existence of an unbalanced ratio between the effector and regulatory arms of the immune system. With regard to the T regulatory (Treg) compartment, we o...

A low CD4/CD8 ratio in elderly HIV-uninfected adults is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. A subset of HIV-infected adults receiving effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) fails to normalize this ratio, even after they achieve normal CD4+ T cell counts. The immunologic and clinical characteristics of this clinical phenotype remain undefined. Using data from four distinct clinica...

Recent preclinical and clinical trials have demonstrated the therapeutic potential of T lymphocytes redirected with genetically engineered T-cell receptor (TCR) surrogates against infected, cancerous, or autoreactive cells. These surrogate TCRs link a ligand-recognition domain to signaling regions from the TCR. We previously compared the function of surrogate TCRs that include TCR or TCR and CD...