Jürg Tschopp Photo courtesy of Université de Lausanne. On March 22, the field of Immunology lost one of the great Biochemists of his generation a few months from his 60th birthday. Dr. Jürg Tschopp grew up in Basel in his beloved Switzerland. As a youth, he proved to be a gifted athlete. He was nationally recognized in the decathlon and, naturally, growing up a mere stones-throw from the Alps w...

It has been reported that IFN-γ-producing CD8(+) T (Tc1) cells express cytotoxic molecules such as perforin and granzyme B to exhibit higher cytotoxicity against tumor cells compared with Tc2 cells. However, the critical role of IL-17-producing CD8(+) T (Tc17)-cell subsets in tumor immunity remains unclear. Tc17 cells differentiated from naive CD8(+) T cells did not possess cytotoxic molecules ...

Even though there have been multiple studies with longitudinal assessment of lung function in asthma [1, 2], to date, the relationship between the underlying airway pathology and the rate of functional decline has been poorly addressed in prospective studies. DEN OTTER et al. [3], in the present issue of the European Respiratory Journal, have addressed this topic in a cohort of patients with mi...

Organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) are widely used throughout the world as insecticides in agriculture and as eradicating agents for termites around homes. The main toxicity of OPs is neurotoxicity, which is caused by the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase. OPs also affect the immune response, including effects on antibody production, interleukin-2 production, T cell proliferation, decrease of C...

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) induce apoptosis by engaging death receptors or by exocytosis of cytolytic granules containing granzyme (Gzm) proteases and perforin. The lamins, which maintain the structural integrity of the nuclear envelope, are cleaved by caspases during caspase-mediated apoptosis. Although death receptor engagement and GzmB activate caspases, CTL also induce apoptosis during c...