The gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus is a major pathogen responsible for a variety of diseases ranging from minor skin infections to life-threatening conditions such as sepsis. Cell wall-associated and secreted proteins (e.g., protein A, hemolysins, and phenol-soluble modulin) and cell wall components (e.g., peptidoglycan and alanylated lipoteichoic acid) have been shown to be infl...

Goblet cells are secretory epithelial cells of mucosal tissues that confer protection from environmental agents or pathogens via expression and secretion of soluble mucins. Loss of these cells is associated with several chronic inflammatory disorders of the mucosa. Although demonstrated to transfer antigens from the luminal surface to stromal cells in the intestinal mucosa, it is not known if g...

AMP: Deaminase Adenosine Monophosphate Deaminase; ATP 7B: Membrane-Bound Copper-Binding Adenosine Triphosphatase; cGMP: Guanosine 3’, 5’ Cyclic Monophosphate; DC: Dendritic Cells; DNA: Deoxyribonucleic Acid; dTMP: Deoxythymidine 5’ Mono-Phosphate; HL-60: Human promyelocytic Leukemia cell line; HUT-78: Human malignant lymphoblastoid cell line of Th0 phenotype; ICAM-1: Soluble Intercellar Adhesio...

OBJECTIVES Lung contusion is a major risk factor for the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome. We set to determine the role of toll-like receptor 3 and the binding of double-stranded RNA in the pathogenesis of sterile injury following lung contusion. DESIGN Toll-like receptor 3 expression was analyzed in postmortem lung samples from patients with lung contusion. Unilateral lung ...

Glucans are immunomodulatory carbohydrates found in the cell walls of fungi and certain bacteria. We examined the pharmacokinetics of three water-soluble glucans (glucan phosphate, laminarin, and scleroglucan) after oral administration of 1 mg/kg doses in rats. Maximum plasma concentrations for glucan phosphate occurred at 4 h. In contrast, laminarin and scleroglucan showed two plasma peaks bet...

Xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis (XGC) is characterized by the infiltration of numerous foamy macrophages. Bacterial infection is thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of XGC. Using XGC and cultured murine biliary epithelial cells (BEC), the participation of E. coli and the role of the scavenger receptor class A (SCARA), as well as chemokine(C-X-C motif) ligand 16 (CXCL16) and its recepto...

A common feature of severe Plasmodium falciparum infection is the increased systemic release of proinflammatory cytokines that contributes to the pathogenesis of malaria. Using human blood, we found that blood stage schizonts or soluble schizont extracts activated plasmacytoid dendritic cells (PDCs) to up-regulate CD86 expression and produce IFN-alpha. IFN-alpha production was also detected in ...

Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) has been used to treat bladder cancer for almost 30 years; however, the effector mechanism of the BCG-induced antitumor response remains enigmatic. Most BCG research has focused on the mononuclear-cell infiltrate, but growing evidence supports a role for neutrophils in the antitumor response. Previously, we demonstrated increased urinary tumor ...

This work describes the use of a transfer factor, a low molecular protein that can transfer cell mediated immunity from donor to recipient, and CpG, a clinically relevant toll-like receptor agonist, for treating glioma. Transfer factor and CpG were assembled onto gold nanoparticles via layer-by-layer assembly. The modified nanoparticles (i.e. particles assembled with transfer factor and CpG) we...

Background and hypothesis Current cancer therapies rely on nonspecific chemotherapies which cause severe side effects without combating relapse. Therapeutic cancer vaccines aim to harness the adaptive immune response to specifically target and eliminate established tumors, while generating durable tumorspecific T cell responses to prevent relapse. Toll like receptor agonists (TLRas) such as CpG...