To examine the effects of exposure to manganese (Mn) on the cellular and humoral immune system in men, T lymphocyte subpopulations, B (CD19+) lymphocytes, natural killer (NK) cells, and serum immunoglobulins (i.e., IgG, IgA and IgM) together with total T (CD3+) lymphocytes and total lymphocytes were measured in blood samples from 21 welders mainly exposed to Mn fume with blood Mn (BMn) concentr...

A protective or deleterious role of CD8(+)T cells in human cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) has been debated. The present report explores the participation of CD8(+)T cells in disease pathogenesis as well as in parasite killing. CD8(+)T cells accumulated in CL lesions as suggested by a higher frequency of CD8(+)CD45RO(+)T cells and CD8(+)CLA(+)T cells compared with peripheral blood mononuclear cell...

T-lymphocyte helper and suppressor functions were assessed in 61 hemophilia patients. Twenty one patients were HIV-negative (Group 1), 27 were HIV-positive without having AIDS-related complex (ARC)/AIDS (Group 2), and 13 had ARC/AIDS (Group 3). T, CD4-positive, or CD8-positive T lymphocytes were cocultured with B lymphocytes and pokeweed mitogen for 6 days and immunoglobulin producing cells wer...

The percentages of CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes that expressed BTLA from RA patients were all higher than those of the controls (all p < 0.05), while the percentages of CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes that expressed HVEM and LIGHT were all lower than those of the controls (all p < 0.05). The rheumatoid factor and the percentage of HVEM +CD4+ T lymphocytes showed a statistically significa...

Inhibitory signals that govern the cytolytic functions of CD8(+) T lymphocytes have been linked to the expression of natural killer cell receptors (NKRs) on CTLs. There is limited knowledge about the induction of inhibitory NKR (iNKR) expression in vivo. Up-regulation of iNKRs has been linked to the modulation of the virus- and/or tumor-specific immune responses in animal models. In the present...

Overexpression of the major myelin protein of the CNS, proteolipid protein (PLP), leads to late-onset degeneration of myelin and pathological changes in axons. Based on the observation that in white matter tracts of these mutants both CD8+ T-lymphocytes and CD11b+ macrophage-like cells are numerically elevated, we tested the hypothesis that these cells are pathologically involved in the primari...

It is well-documented that T lymphocyte proliferation and apoptosis are abnormal in idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) children. However, the underlying regulation mechanisms especially in terms of signal transduction remain unknown. In this paper, we reported the changes of protein kinase C (PKC) activity in peripheral blood T lymphocytes and the effect of PKC on T lymphocyte proliferat...

Cancer immunotherapy has been extensively attempted by gene transfer of cytokines with viral vectors. In this work, we compared the therapeutic effects of interleukin 12 and 15 (IL-12 and IL-15) genes transferred to tumor cells or to dendritic cells (DCs), which were subsequently injected into established tumors. For this purpose, we used viral vectors based on simian virus 40 (rSV40). Importan...

Control of CD8alpha transcription during development of alpha/beta T cell receptor (TCR) T lymphocytes is mediated by at least two distinct stage-specific cis-acting transcriptional mechanisms (i.e., enhancers). On the CD8alpha(-/-) knockout (KO) background, cis-mechanism I and cis-mechanism II together mediate appropriate stage- and sublineage-specific transgenic (Tg) CD8alpha expression and "...